


Silence of a Shinobi

by Flux_Uchiha



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Evil Itachi Uchiha, Gen, Good Orochimaru (Naruto), Intact Uzushiogakure, Mute Naruto, Mute Sasuke, Nonbinary Character, Salty Kirigakure, Where on earth is Kishimoto's timeline?, screw canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 32,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21714811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flux_Uchiha/pseuds/Flux_Uchiha
Summary: After a prank on a few chuunin, Naruto ends up in an alleyway and is attacked, a drunk slashing his throat. A nearby Uzumaki gets him to the hospital, and he is saved, albeit reluctantly. Currently updates every three weeks.
Comments: 42
Kudos: 95





	1. Bloody Alleys and Bloodier Waters

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N) Thanks to DeadGirlRisen(Fanfiction.net) for helping me plan and name this story, all jumps in naming my stories is thanks to her. I am horrid at naming things, she is not. And most plotting is thanks to her.

Naruto was running. Again. It was just a couple of chuunin, no big deal, they weren’t even fast ones. Both were coated in bright orange paint, with a sprinkling of black glitter. Naruto thought they looked very nice, but apparently, they didn’t share his opinion. The four-year-old giggled happily as the chuunin shouted for him to stop running away already.  
He lost them after a bit, running through a couple of alleyways.  
He crashed into a man in one of the darker areas. “Oh, sorry sir! I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Naruto said quickly. “I’ll just get out of your hair now.”  
The man stared at him for a bit, then the stare turned into a glare. “And where are you goin, demon?” His words were slurred, and Naruto could smell the alcohol coming off of him from a mile away.  
“Uhm, I’m just heading back to my house,” Naruto replied quickly, nervously backing into a wall, eyeing the broken glass shard now in the man’s hand.  
“You run your mouth so much,” he snarled. “On and on, always talking, never stopping. I hate it!” he lashed out, and Naruto’s arms moved too slowly. His throat was slashed, but not bad enough he was going to die in the next few seconds. He was losing air he couldn’t breathe, he could not breathe, why couldn’t he breathe!?  
A head of red hair appeared in his vision. “Naruto, NARUTO! I’m going to pick you up. Not even your healing factor can take care of that.” Naruto felt himself being scooped up, and instinctively curled in on himself, hands grasping uselessly at his throat, the feeling of suffocation, of drowning, of not having any air getting to him. He was getting light-headed, and there was so much blood, so much blood.  
The red-headed woman looked down worriedly at him. “C’mon, hold in there for just a little bit longer. Don’t you dare fall asleep on me now.”  
Naruto blinked at her sleepily. Why did she care? He was a demon, all of the villagers said so.  
They landed in front of the hospital, the red-head racing inside. “This boy needs medical treatment.”  
The nurse looked up and immediately narrowed her eyes. “We don’t treat his kind here.”  
The red-headed woman honest to Kami growled, a paper suddenly in her hand. “If you don’t treat him now, I will set you on fire, and you will not like it.”  
The nurse quavered, and broke, gesturing them to a room. “Fine.”  
The red-head walked in and placed the barely conscious boy on the bed. The nurse bent over him for a bit, hands glowing green. Finally, after about 30 minutes, she sat back, nodding to the woman. “He’s healed. You can leave now.”  
The red-head made a low growling noise again, and picked up Naruto gently, stalking out of the hospital.  
“Hihana! What-what happened?” Choryu, her partner both on and off the battlefield, looking down at the unconscious blond in her arms. “Why are you covered in blood? And why on earth were you in the hospital? And is that Naruto Uzumaki, the boy we were basically told not to interact with due to a stupid war mongrel?”  
Hihana sighed. “Your mouth is going to get both of us killed one of these days.”  
“Nah, I want kids first!” He chirped back.  
Hihana rolled her eyes. “Then after a kid or two?”  
“I wanna see them grow up!”  
Hihana shook her head, glancing at Naruto, who’d fallen asleep during the nurse’s healing. “He was attacked, some drunk took a piece of broken glass to his neck. I’m worried that the nurse didn’t heal it properly, but I have no way to check. I’m not a Iyashino Shio.”  
“We’ll just wait for him to wake up. C’mon, no reasonable person would stop us from keeping him for a couple of days. He was just severely injured, he requires watching. You take him back to the house, I’ll get some changes of clothes from his house.” Choryu suggested.  
Hihana nodded, pushing chakra into her legs to leap away. 

Orochimaru moved down the banks of the Naka River. His snakes had reported a disturbance here, and as this was fairly close to one of his more important laboratories, he decided to check it out. Not that he didn’t trust his summons, but they could only do so much.  
He scanned the river and did a double-take as he saw a red stain in the water. He walked up onto the water, following the red to its source, a black-haired young man, face-up in the water, barely breathing. His left arm was torn off at the shoulder, dozens of pine needles and leaves half stuck in the gaping wound. There was another chunk of flesh missing from his right side, and a good section of his right thigh was missing too, the lower leg held on by only an inch or two of flesh. The boy’s eyes were most likely missing, based on the blood pouring from his eye sockets. Orochimaru gently picked up the teen, cradling the almost dead boy to his chest, trying to keep the right leg from falling off. With damage like this, he needed Tsunade. Or rather, Tsunade’s apprentice. He was not so dumb as to think he could make his teammate heal when she didn’t want to. For now, he would get the boy stabilized. The Uchiha crest on the back of the boy’s shirt told him that maybe, he should keep his mouth shut about this. Either the teen had been pushed, or he had fallen on purpose. If he had fallen from the top of the cliff, he should have died, but it appeared that a tree, or several, had slowed his fall enough to leave him alive, if barely. He quickly tore the Uchiha crest off of the boy’s shirt, leaving behind a hole in the fabric that didn’t look that out of place, seeing as his clothes were already torn to shreds.

“Get him hooked up to an IV drip!” Orochimaru all but shouted as soon as he entered a room in his base. He set the teen on the bed in the center of the room, hands beginning to glow green to try and heal the boy somewhat while his doctors scrambled for their tools. They could be so inefficient at times, but they got there in the end.  
A flurry of scientists and doctors rushed around, scabbing over the wounds, getting a blood replenishing pill in the teen, and setting up IV’s. They hooked him up to equipment, monitoring everything. His heart rate, brain activity, and everything else they could possibly monitor.  
It took over an hour, but they finally had him stable enough to live through the night. As a collective, they sat back, breathing a sigh of relief. They began putting the medical supplies away but kept him hooked up to everything. It was always better safe than sorry. He could always take a turn for the worse at any time.  
“Orochimaru-sama, who is he?” The head doctor asked.  
“No one you need to care about,” Orochimaru said smoothly. “I will be taking leave in a few days to get this boy better care. I will leave instructions for the experiments on my desk.”  
The head doctor bowed and removed himself from the room. Orochimaru’s other minions quickly vacating the rooms as well.  
Orochimaru sighed deeply, staring at the boy in the middle of the room. He wouldn’t awaken for a while, they’d found poison in his system, and Orochimaru had to admit that he had almost lost that battle. The poison was wily and didn’t have a clear indicator. It was clearly made for subtle killing, as he’d found that the poison would break down after the target died. It was a fairly slow-acting poison, and from what he could tell, the Uchiha teen would have died anyway after a couple more hours due to the poison.  
The boy was stable now, and that was all that mattered. Hiruzen-sensei would have skinned him if he hadn’t helped the boy. Orochimaru may only be distantly related to the village and was basically half missing ninja, but he still listened to his old sensei. Besides, asking for volunteers did wonders for his experiments. He had a larger influx of failed civilian children, ones who had failed out of the ninja academy, and just wanted to be helpful, but not as a civilian. The ones who’d had a taste of the ninja life, and didn’t want to let it go, just yet. Those children were oh so helpful and often had the will to continue living. Some of his experiments, like his cursed seal, the fatality odds could be beaten by a lot of will power.  
Orochimaru surveyed the boy. A very odd subject had died recently, terminal disease that Orochimaru was not able to cure in time. His eyes had been unaffected, and the boy had a dojutsu. Or rather, two of them. He had heterochromia as well, interestingly enough, one blue eye, and one green. The Uchiha very may well try and kill him when he awoke, Uchiha superiority and all, but it was worth the risk. The dead subject’s eyes had been preserved, of course, mostly for further study, but there was always the risk of a subject losing an eye and requiring a new one. Orochimaru tried to preserve all of the eyes he could. Just in case.  
The subject had the Sutomuburingan and the Soshigan, one in each eye. Soshigan in the green, Sutomuburingan in the blue.  
They were very old dojutsu, and the clans they had originally come from were long extinct. The Soshigan was from the old Kantere clan, extinct, although some people did have the ability to awaken it in the right circumstances while others were just carriers of it, but not actually able to awaken it. There were rumors of a clan or family outside of the Elemental nations that held this dojutsu, but Orochimaru wasn’t about to chase them down. The Soshigan supposedly could break things down at the atomic level, a skill called degrading. It looked very odd when activated, the top half was dark navy blue, the bottom half was light yellow. The pupil looked like a cross.  
The Sutomuburingan was from the Raiu clan, extinct of course, but like the Soshigan, it was spread throughout the populace as a mostly dormant or latent gene. It was even odder to see when the Soshigan when activated, as it appeared entirely grey, pupil and iris, with the occasional flash that looks a lot like lightning.  
Orochimaru rose from his chair, summoning a smaller snake to watch the Uchiha teen. He fetched the eyes, swiftly implanting them in the Uchiha’s empty sockets. On the plus side, the teen would not be recognized as an Uchiha, at least not easily.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the dojutsu the Uchiha has are from Naruto and the Four Dojutsu(can be found on my fanfiction.net account, I can be found as Esellyn on there). He will not get the second stages, as I just don’t want to deal with that. See that story if you want a full description of the Sutomuburingan and the Soshigan. This will not deal with the second stages, however.

Two days later Orochimaru had instructions written up for the next month, just in case, the Uchiha was stable and healed enough to be moved, even if in a wagon, and the new eyes had taken well.   
Orochimaru settled the boy into the wagon and set off for a nearby town. He knew Tsunade would be in that town soon, within the next few days. He was going to wait until Tsunade was sleeping off a bunch of alcohol, then ask her student to heal the boy better. He was hoping to at least get him to a state where it was okay for him to be conscious, and hopefully, get rid of the holes in the Uchiha’s leg and side. The Uchiha’s clothes had been changed, of course, they were not leaving him in those tatters. He was dressed in basic shinobi clothes, black pants and a long-sleeved shirt, taped at the bottoms. Orochimaru had opted to leave his headband on his head, it didn’t really matter whether he was identified as a Konoha nin, as so was Orochimaru.   
It went off well, Tsunade went to the house, and crashed, snoring slightly. Shizune sighed and walked outside to get some fresh air and let Tonton, a pet pig, run around for a bit.   
“Shizune-san,” Orochimaru said, walking out of the shadows.   
“O-Orochimaru-san!” Shizune said, jumping slightly. “If you’re looking for Tsunade-sama-”   
Orochimaru raised a hand. “I am well aware she doesn’t heal anymore. I am actually looking for you.”   
“M-me?” Shizune stuttered. No one ever looked for her, they were always looking for her mentor.   
Orochimaru gave a smooth nod. “You can heal, can you not?”  
Shizune nodded, switching to her medic mode. “Are you the one injured?”   
Orochimaru shook his head, disappearing back into the shadows. “Come with me.”   
Shizune followed the snake sannin warily. He was Tsunade’s old teammate, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.   
They stopped in a clearing, and Orochimaru pulled aside a curtain on a wagon. There, inside was a boy, sleeping quite soundly. The first thing she noticed was the lack of his left arm. It didn’t even have the shoulder left.   
“His injuries?” Shizune asked, all medical professional.   
“Large chunk of flesh missing from right thigh, and a smaller chunk missing from the right lower side. It appears no organs were touched, thankfully. Left arm is entirely missing. He is recovering from poisoning, and his current eyes are not the ones he was born with. They were transplanted two days ago.”   
Shizune nodded. “Alright. I’ll do what I can. I can’t do anything for the arm, but the leg and side should be fine. I should be able to regenerate the missing areas. Is anything infected?”   
Orochimaru shook his head. “We were very thorough, no wounds are infected.”   
Shizune nodded, climbing into the wagon. “I’ll work on him. You keep watch.”   
Orochimaru nodded, shutting the curtain to give Shizune privacy. No need for the entire world to know that he had a friend being healed by Tsunade’s apprentice.   
It was two hours later when Shizune stumbled out of the wagon. “He’s good. The arm has healed perfectly fine, and the leg and side have regrown. If you don’t mind, I’m going to crash for the next few hours.”   
Orochimaru nodded. “I will escort you back. Will he awaken?”   
Shizune nodded tiredly. “In another few hours. When he wakes up, please tell me so I may check over him one more time.”   
Orochimaru nodded again, escorting the barely conscious medic back to the place where Tsunade had crashed. Shizune stumbled inside, calling for Tonton to follow her. She closed the door behind the pig, and Orochimaru smiled slightly.

Three hours later the Uchiha teen woke up, sitting up with a gasp, looking around frantically.   
“Calm down,” Orochimaru ordered.   
The teen’s head snapped to Orochimaru, and he stared at the sannin, mismatched green and blue eyes staring into Orochimaru’s golden eyes. “Orochimaru? What? What happened?”   
“You tell me,” Orochimaru said mildly. “I found you at the bottom of a cliff, floating in the Naka River with a missing arm, and a very nearly removed leg.”   
The teen looked confused. “Wha-what?” Something appreares to register to him, and he scuttled back so his back was pressed to the wall of the wagon. “Why can I see?”   
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. “I think I should be asking you why I found you with no eyes at the bottom of a cliff.”  
“I jumped,” the teen said shortly.   
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. “Well, since you were so kind as to answer my question, I will answer yours. I transplanted eyes into your empty sockets. They are not yours, nor did they belong to an Uchiha.”   
Orochimaru would say that the teen looked almost relieved, a hand coming up to touch his face near his eyes. “My name is Shisui Uchiha. I’m supposed to be dead.”   
“I gathered that when you said that you jumped,” Orochimaru said mildly. “Care to explain why you felt the need to jump off a cliff with no intention of surviving?”   
“Classified,” Shisui replied immediately.   
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. “Would it deal with the Uchiha coup?”  
Shisui blinked at him owlishly for a moment, then seemed to realize who he was talking too. “Oh, uh, yeah.”  
Orochimaru had a faintly amused expression on. “You forget who I am.”   
Shisui blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry.”  
“Now, care to tell me why you had no eyes?”   
Shisui’s face hardened slightly. “Right. Danzo stole one of them, I gave the other to Itachi Uchiha.”   
Orochimaru cocked his head, so much like the snakes he summoned. “And then tried to kill yourself.”  
“Poison,” Shisui said. “If it was known Danzo had killed me, it would just throw the clan deeper into war. Suicide was the best option.”  
Orochimaru nodded. “I neutralized the poison. Took a bit, but I did it.”   
Shisui nodded, sighing deeply.   
“Now, if you don’t mind, put some clothes on and follow me. Shizune would like to make sure you are healed.   
Shisui looked down and realized he was just in his boxers. He squeaked undignifiedly, and hurriedly pulled on the clothing Shizune had discarded to heal his wounds.   
“Shizune, like Tsunade’s apprentice?” Shisui asked as soon as Orochimaru and he set off.   
Orochimaru nodded. “Yes. She is the one that made sure you did not have a gaping hole in your right thigh and your lower right side.”   
Shisui nodded. “Thanks for finding her.”   
Orochimaru nodded back. “If you died and I could have prevented it, Hiruzen-sensei would have my hide.”   
Shisui nodded again, a crooked grin on his face. “Thanks.”   
Orochimaru glanced ahead of them, spotting the building between the trees. “We are here. I will go wake up Shizune if she is not awake already.”  
Shisui nodded assent and sat down on the ground, absentmindedly rubbing where his left arm had been. Orochimaru decided to head over to Uzushiogakure to see if they could help any. They were rumored to have been developing a new kind of prosthetic.   
Orochimaru headed in to see Shizune already awake and brewing a cup of coffee.   
She looked over and smiled slightly. “Orochimaru-san. Is he awake?”   
Orochimaru nodded. “Shisui is his name. He is waiting outside.”  
Shizune nodded, taking a gulp of her coffee and heading outside. “Hello, how are you?”   
Shisui shrugged. “Much better than the last time I was awake.”   
Shizune nodded, setting her coffee down on the ground and running green coated hands over the spots she’d healed just hours before. “Alright, looks like you’re good. Perhaps no more falling off of cliffs, hm?”   
“I’ll try and avoid it, ma’am,” Shisui replied truthfully.   
Shizune shook her head. “You’d better. Alright, you’re free to go. Tsunade-sama has not awakened yet. I suggest you leave before she does.”   
Orochimaru dipped his head. “Of course. Thank you, Shizune.”   
“You’re welcome,” she replied graciously. “Now, scram.”   
Shisui nodded quickly, scrambling to get up, but ultimately fell over because he forgot he was missing a left arm.   
Orochimaru sighed, and grabbed Shisui’s right upper arm, pulling the teen to his feet.   
Shisui waved goodbye to Shizune as they leave. Shizune waved back happily.   
“So, where are we going?” Shisui asked, right hand twitching slightly.   
“To Uzushiogakure,” Was Orochimaru’s short reply.   
Shisui thought about it for a bit. “Why?”   
“Arm.”  
Shisui decided to stop talking. As much as he wanted to, it was fairly clear Orochimaru did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’ll go back to Naruto at some point, don’t worry. It’s not going to be forever. Have a Merry Christmas!


	3. Field Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I do use Shisui quite a lot, but what can I say, I like him.

They reached Uzu three days later, Orochimaru welcomed with seals shoved in his face by over-excited children and adults alike. Jiraya may be the known seal master, but Orochimaru blended seals with other jutsu masterfully, and apparently, the Uzumaki knew it.   
Orochimaru patiently sat down with the little ones first, correcting small mistakes in their sealing, patting them on the head and letting them run off to play, or fix it.   
The adults were next, Orochimaru going into deep seal jargon with them, Shisui’s eyelids dropping lower and lower as they spoke words that meant nothing to him, then finally, he dozed off, arm across his chest and chin resting on his chest.   
Orochimaru finished an hour later, finally noticing his companion had dozed off.   
“You here to try out an elemental prosthetic?” Fukuro asked, dark blue eyes bright and curious.   
Orochimaru nodded, surveying the sleeping teen. “I figured it may be the best course of action.”   
Fukuro nodded. “They’re still mostly prototypes, but they definitely work well enough for most active shinobi to use. We’re mostly trying to add things we want them to do.”   
Orochimaru dipped his head gratefully. “Wonderful.”  
Fukuro nodded. “Wake him up will ya? He can’t pick an element sleeping like that!”   
Orochimaru jabbed Shisui harshly in the ribs, startling the teen out of his nap.   
“Huh? I’m awake!” Shisui said quickly, shooting to his feet.   
“Woah, cool it, kid,” Fukuro said, holding up his hands. “We’re not in that big of a rush.”   
Shisui blinked at him for a bit, then shrugged. “Okay.”   
“Alright! Now, you’ll be getting an elemental prosthetic, something our medics have been working on for ages. You can pick one of the five elements for the prosthetic.”   
Shisui blinked. “So, like, fire?”  
Fukuro laughed. “An Uchiha to the core, eh? Alright, we’ll get you set up with one of those.” 

Naruto sat down in his assigned seat a bit nervously. He knew none of the kids in his year, and it was always really, really awkward to explain he was mute, especially since he didn’t have a scar from the incident a year and a half ago.   
A boy practically drowning in fabric from what Naruto could see, sat down next to him. He didn’t speak, didn’t try to introduce himself, and for that, Naruto was grateful. A second boy, this one slouched with his hands in his pockets, wandered up and sat down in the other seat next to Naruto, placing his head on his desk and seeming to fall asleep. Naruto was glad for the lack of speaking from him too and turned his attention to the paper in his hands. In his distraction, he’d drawn a simple storage seal, and now the boy covered in a very large jacket was looking at him weirdly. Darn it.   
Naruto shrugged and repressed the urge to draw explosive tags on his paper. Ever since the nice Uzumaki people, Hihana and Choryu had shown him sealing, and shown him how to do it, he’d begun drawing seals anytime there was something to draw with, and something to draw on. He tried to avoid carrying pens with him, but after a particularly stressful incident, Naruto had found that he’d bitten his thumb and started drawing seals in his own blood. Which apparently wasn’t good in fuuinjutsu. Now he had several storage seals written on his skin that just wouldn’t ever go away because they had been written in his blood. He carried pens with him now, and a rag, for cleaning the ink off of his hands and arms.   
He’d started drawing simple barrier seals on himself again, dang it. He finished the seal he’d been working on when he realized he was doing it, and put pen to paper, beginning to sketch out a seal he’d been working on for a while, one that would hopefully let him speak. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to get it right, so he was stuck with the shinobi hand signs that the dog masked ANBU had shown him.   
“Alright, kids,” Iruka-sensei, the teacher for their class, said, smiling kindly. “If you don’t mind standing up and saying one thing about yourself when I call your name, please do.”   
Naruto sighed. He might as well, even if Iruka would probably be the only one who would be able to understand him.   
Finally, his name was called, and Naruto stood up, hands twisting to say ‘Here, I have been mute for the last year and a half.’  
Iruka nodded to him, and most of the class, sans the sleeping kid, stared at him oddly.   
“What did you just do?” One of the louder kids, a boy with a white puppy on his head asked.   
‘Shinobi sign language,’ Naruto replied, hands moving quickly.   
The sleeping boy, Naruto couldn’t remember his name, yawned. “He’s using shinobi sign language. He said he’s been mute for the last year and a half the first time.”   
“Shikamaru, you know shinobi sign language?” Iruka asked, raising an eyebrow.   
“I’m good at languages,” the boy yawned. “Found a book on the signs and memorized it.”   
Iruka nodded, “Alright if you don’t mind sticking close to Naruto so he may have a translator among his classmates, I would appreciate it.”   
Shikamaru yawned, and muttered that it would be troublesome, but nodded. “Alright.”  
Naruto beamed. ‘Thanks Shikamaru,’ he stumbled a little bit over Shikamaru’s name but got it in the end.   
Shikamaru just nodded and put his head back down.   
Naruto sat back down, idly doodling more barrier seals on his skin.   
The other boy, the one with the long coat, leaned over. “What is that seal?”  
Naruto blinked at him, then at his arm, then wrote ‘barrier seal’ on the paper. Then: ‘it protects me from harm.’  
“You feel unsafe in here,” it wasn’t a question, but a statement.   
Naruto shifted nervously. Luckily, the other boy didn’t press the issue.   
When Naruto ran out of space on his arms, a coat and shirt sleeve were wordlessly pulled up, the bare arm offered silently, almost like an apology. Naruto took it as one and accepted the apology, drawing more barrier and storage seals on the offered arm.   
From there, the three boys, Shikamaru, Naruto, and the other boy, whose name Naruto learned was Shino, settled into an easy rhythm. Shikamaru reluctantly translated in class, although Shino was getting better at being able to understand the hand signs, and Shino, being somewhat fascinated with seals allowed Naruto to draw on his arms, and even on his legs once during a class outing and picnic. In that outing, the girls had harassed the three rather mercilessly, and once Naruto had drawn barrier seals all over his own arms, Shino’s forearms and hands, and Shino’s lower legs, Shikamaru let Naruto draw barrier seals on him as well. With all three of them quite secure with at least a couple dozen barrier seals on each of them, and then drawn on paper and placed in a circle around them, Naruto allowed himself to relax slightly, drawing storage seals on spare pieces of paper. Sometimes the three would be joined by Choji, a friend of Shikamaru’s. He wasn’t a bad kid, and would usually let Naruto draw on him as well, as long as he left a storage seal on his wrist for food. Naruto drew that one in his own blood so it’d stay.   
“Alright class, we’ll be going on a three-week field trip to Uzushiogakure. I’ve mentioned it before when we were covering the shinobi world wars.  
“Uzu is the leading expert in seals, especially their use in medicine. The Elemental prosthetics are renowned the world over. They can be used for limbs and organs in and outside of the body, as well as to help heal.  
“Take Hayate, for example. He is one of our shinobi, and up until a while ago, he was suffering from a chronic illness that affected his lungs, effectively scarring them. When it became available, Hayate chose to become a guinea pig for a lung transplant, the first of its kind. It was successful, and Hayate is currently living as a successful Jounin. He has lungs of wind and water, and is breathing far better than he ever did without the prosthetic.”   
Naruto looked up, touching his throat with one hand. He quickly signed a few words to Iruka. ‘Replace throat?’  
Iruka smiled at Naruto. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask, now would it.”   
Naruto shrugged and went back to sketching a more powerful barrier seal, Shino watching closely.   
“Alright,” Iruka said, smiling to the whole class. “Please get these permission slips signed by your parent or guardian and back on my desk by tomorrow morning.”   
Naruto looked confused, but Iruka made the hand signs for Hokage, and Naruto nodded, Shikamaru and Shino giving him a slightly odd look.   
Iruka passed out the permission slips, placing one in front of each student. As such, he got a better look at Naruto’s barrier seals and almost whistled. They were good, pretty powerful too. One would have been plenty to protect him or Shino, but both of them had barrier seals up to their elbows. Literally. With that much protection, Iruka had a feeling they’d be fine sticking their arms in lava.   
He resumed his position in the front of the classroom, glancing at the clock. It was a bit early to let them out, but who cared. It was only by a couple of minutes. “Alright, you can go, but be aware that it’s still a couple of minutes until the other classes get out. Don’t go bother them.”   
The class nodded dutifully and filed out like good little children.

The next day he had a nice little stack of permission forms, either delivered overnight by assorted ninja parents, or turned in by the kids themselves.  
Iruka flipped through the papers, spotting Kiba’s, who was actually signed by his sister. His mom must be on a mission. Ah well, his sister’s signature worked fine. His sister was a registered shinobi, and as such, could act as his guardian when his mother wasn’t around. Iruka finished checking the pages and nodded happily. Everyone’s paper was there, even Naruto’s, who’s had been delivered overnight. Iruka glanced up to the back of the classroom where his three quietest students were sitting, Shikamaru sleeping, Shino studying a paper, and Naruto drawing on his own arms.   
“Alright,” Iruka said, getting the attention of the class. “We’ll be discussing what will be happening during this trip, and what to pack today. We leave tomorrow, so instead of meeting here, meet at the front gate, Alright?”   
The class nodded, and Iruka began his lecture for that day. It was on etiquette, just so they didn’t accidentally cause an international incident. Iruka doubted it would happen, the Uzumaki were notoriously laid-back, except when it came to threats on their loved ones. Iruka started stressing the importance of not threatening anyone, looking significantly at Kiba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, a field trip to Uzu is fairly logical, especially as it hasn’t been destroyed here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) I don’t give a star about whether the timing is off or not, screw timing and whatever. Oh, it’s TheDeadGirlRisen, that was pointed out to me. Oops.

The next day proved to be interesting. Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, and Choji showed up without any backpacks, but with bloody red seals visible on their arms. Iruka took it, a shinobi packed efficiently, and that meant using storage seals.   
The class set off, the few chaperones circling about the group. Well, less chaperones and more four chuunin and a Jounin. Escorts. Normally an academy field trip would not warrant a four chuunin and a jounin as an escort, but this was a class with Naruto and many clan heirs. The roads to Uzu generally weren’t very treacherous, but it never hurt to be careful. Especially with so many clan heirs. 

They arrived at Uzu, and Iruka stopped them just before the gates.   
“Alright, this is another village, so we need to be careful. Each of you needs to pick one or two partners to travel with, preferably of the same gender. Stay with your partner or partners until this trip is over. Yes, you will be roomed together.”   
Naruto watched curiously as Sasuke basically immediately joined him, Shikamaru, and Shino. “You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” He asked quickly, eyeing the fangirls of the class.   
Naruto shrugged and gave him a thumbs up.   
“You are using us as fangirl repellant,” Shino observed dryly.   
“And it’s working,” Sasuke said, retreating farther behind Naruto’s back. “They aren’t coming near and trying to drag me off to be their partner. Do you want to deal with them?”   
Shino pushed up his glasses with a finger. “Not particularly. Their voices tend to upset my Kikiachu.” The entire class knew about them now, Sasuke had hidden behind Shino one time, and the fangirl’s screeching had disturbed Shino’s bugs, and they flew out in a cloud of black. Needless to say, the fangirls avoided him like he had the plague. Even if Sasuke was hiding near Shino to get away from them.   
Naruto sighed, glancing at the gates to Uzu. ‘Are we going to get moving?’ He signed.   
Shino glanced at Iruka. “Does not look like it.”  
“Eager to get it over with?” Shikamaru yawned.   
Naruto glanced at the gates again, hands twisting into more signs. ‘The ones who took care of me after the injury live here, I was hoping to see them again.’  
Shikamaru yawned. “If they know you’re coming, they’re probably gonna meet you at the gate.”   
Naruto shrugged. ‘They’re shinobi, there’s a chance that they’re on a mission.’  
“If they knew you were coming they would endeavor to remain in the village to see you,” Shino said, agreeing with Shikamaru.   
‘I guess,’ Naruto signed, looking towards Uzu again.   
“Okay, I need all of you to line up with your partners, and I’ll write them down,” Iruka instructed, clipboard at the ready.   
Naruto, Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru got to the line first, as the fangirls were squabbling right in front about who went first, and they parted for the four, led by Shino.   
“I figured you four would be paired up. Alright. As it’s clear no one else will be getting through, for now, Kakashi!” Iruka shouted, one of the chuunin looking up as his name was called.   
“Yeah, what is it Iruka?” He asked, standing up and coming over.   
“Could you take these four into the city? The others will take a while to get sorted out, and I’m sure Naruto is very eager to see the city his clan is from.”   
Naruto nodded emphatically to prove Iruka’s point.   
Kakashi eye smiled at them. “Alright, let’s go you four.”   
He led them into Uzu, handing paperwork to the guards with an easy smile. They smiled back, checking the paperwork, and handing it back. “Have a good time in Uzu. Though, go see Semari-sama if you will, you haven’t informed her of anything lately.”   
Kakashi nodded. “Of course.” Kakashi nodded to the guard, herding the children past them and into Uzu.   
The people of Uzushio were mostly red-headed, and most non-red-heads were either cuddling up to a red-head or were the child of one.   
“Naruto, if you’re an Uzumaki, why isn’t your hair red?” Sasuke wondered, glancing around at the people surrounding them.   
‘I dunno, Kakashi, do you know?’ Naruto asked, looking at the silver-haired jounin.  
“His father’s genes overpowered his mother’s,” Kakashi said, shrugging.   
Sasuke nodded, having moved out from hiding behind Shino. There were no fangirls yet, he was safe for now. “Who’s Semari?”   
“She’s the leader of Uzu right now. She’s also Naruto’s grandmother. Due to circumstances, Naruto was not permitted to live with her, and her duties as the leader of the village keep her here.”  
“And you tell her stuff?” Sasuke asked, glancing at the biggest building in Uzu, which they were heading right for.   
“About Naruto, yes. My last report, if you will, was before Naruto’s injury. I have been a bit busy since then.”   
‘Showing me sign language,’ Naruto signed, a smirk on his face.   
‘You aren’t supposed to know that, and you know it.’ Kakashi signed back.   
‘Know what?’ Shikamaru asked, following the signing trend. ‘That you were in ANBU?’  
Kakashi leveled him with a stare. ‘You aren’t supposed to know that either.’   
Shino and Sasuke were confused. The conversation was moving too fast for Shino to follow, and Sasuke just plain didn’t know sign language.   
“Sorry about that,” Kakashi said, shooting mild glares at Shikamaru and Naruto. “Some people know more than they should.”   
Naruto smiled innocently at him, and Shikamaru yawned.   
“We are here,” Shino said blandly, staring up at the large building.   
Kakashi hummed in agreement. “Alright, come with me, we’re going to go talk to Naruto’s grandmother!”   
They walked inside, Kakashi leading the four academy students right up to the secretary. “Kakashi Hatake. Is Semari free?”   
The secretary nodded. “You have thirty minutes.”   
Kakashi nodded and led the kids right up to the office labeled Uzushiokage.   
“Whirling Tides shadow?” Sasuke asked, frowning slightly at the plaque.   
“Yes. She prefers Semari though. If you’re being very formal, Semari Kuru Arashi is her full first name.”   
“The oncoming storm,” Shikamaru muttered. “Interesting name. What’s her last name then? You would’ve said Uzumaki if it was just that.”   
“It’s Hogo Uzu Uzumaki,” Kakashi replied. “Hogo Uzu is the branch of the Uzumaki clan she’s from.” He pushed the door open and walked inside. Five identical heads swiveled in his direction as he entered, the four shadow clones placing whatever they’d been doing down, and disappearing in a poof of smoke.   
“Kakashi!” The one that was left said, grinning widely. “It’s been ages!” She was fairly pretty, crimson red hair spilling down her back, and similarly colored eyes moving over the academy students. “Those are rather small for genin. And there’s too many of them.”   
“They aren’t genin,” Kakashi said. “They’re academy students.”   
Semari tilted her head, then understanding dawned on her face. “Oh, you’re escorting the academy student field trip! How wonderful!”   
Kakashi nodded. “This is Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, and your grandson, Naruto Uzumaki.” He pointed to each kid as he said their name, and when he reached the last one, Semari gasped, hands flying to her mouth.   
“Aww, you look just like little Minato-kun!” She cooed, appearing in front of Naruto and hugging him tightly.   
Shika left his friend to suffer for a moment before he tapped the Uzushiokage’s shoulder. “You’re suffocating him.”   
She let go immediately and blushed slightly. “Oops! Sorry about that Naruto-kun!”   
Naruto waved his hands in an ‘it’s fine’ gesture.   
“I was unable to send you a report until now as I was a bit busy. Naruto here suffered an injury to his throat, and is unable to speak,” Kakashi said, patting Naruto’s head.   
Semari got a speculative gleam in her eye. “Would Naruto be the guppy that Hihana-chan and Choryu-kun basically adopted? And the one that made them want guppies of their own?”   
Naruto nodded emphatically, beginning to sign. ‘They took care of me after the injury and started teaching me sign language. Hihana-kaa-chan was the one to take me to the hospital.’  
“Is that so?” Semari asked, a smirk beginning to form on her face. “Well, I suppose you won’t mind if I call them in, right? I think Hihana-chan is done with her appointment.”   
Naruto lit up, nodding excitedly. ‘What kind of appointment?’ He asked curiously.   
“I think I’ll let her tell you,” Semari said mischievously, winking at her grandson.   
Semari got up and tapped one of the seals coating her walls. “Here, this is Hihana-chan’s seal. She has a matching one on her right shoulder, and I can use it to summon her. These seals are a big portion of why Uzu is one of the most feared villages, even if we’re smaller than most.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) There’ll be a lot of fuuinjutsu, although you probably realized that, this being Uzushiogakure. For my Uzumaki clan, there are 5 branches of the clan, Hogo Uzu, specializing in barrier seals and sealing stuff into other stuff, Kushina, Mito, and Naruto are all from this branch, and the Hogo Uzu branch is the one with the chakra chains kekkei genkai. The Kieru Shio branch specializes in genjutsu, do remember that everything involves seals. This branch has the least amount of chakra over all, but that really isn’t saying much, and the second most chakra control. No kekkei genkai. Iyashino Shio branch is the medics, Fukuro, the Uzumaki who did Shisui’s arm, is part of this branch, as are Karin and her mother, but Karin has Hogo Uzu blood from her father. They are the only ones with more chakra control than the Kieru Shio branch. They have the bite healing kekkei genaki. The Difenda no Shio branch is the taijutsu users, Choryu is part of this branch. They have the most stamina, but no kekkei genkai. The Akai Arashi branch specializes in ninjutsu, Hihana is part of this branch by birth, they have the most chakra, and no kekkei genkai. There’s also the Uzuki clan, which is small, and not particularly known outside of their association with the Uzumaki clan. They specialize in Musical genjutsu. Ask me if you want to know why a clan closely related to the Uzumaki can do a form of genjutsu we only see once in the show. Or just review that you want it explained in an AN or something.  
> Happy birthday to Minato.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanna guess who that odd seal out is?

“What can they do?” Shino asked, coming over to inspect them.   
“Well, we can channel healing chakra into them, and that will heal the person long distance. The seals can light up different colors signaling different states. We keep track of all of our shinobi like this, even ones that aren’t born here.” She tapped a different seal, this one very different from the others. “This guy here, he wasn’t born in Uzu but is still looking to become one of our best shinobi. Even if he’s only been here a few days. This seal is so different because it links directly to his prosthetic arm, which is fire natured, by the way. Theoretically, he should be getting home any day now from his first mission here. You might even be able to meet him!”   
Shino looked at that one too, comparing it to the one next to it. “Is the prosthetic the only reason it is so different?”   
“Well, no, it’s adapted to his chakra signature, and that section, this one here, is a lot different from most of the others because he is fire natured, and most of us are wind or water natured.”   
Shino nodded seriously, continuing to study the seals.   
“If you have such a fascination with seals, you can check out a book from our library for while you’re here,” Semari offered. “Naruto-kun, you too. Although, the books are written for Uzumaki, who learn very differently from a lot of people, so don’t be afraid to ask for help. Anyone with a patch that looks like this,” she drew a quick sketch of the Uzumaki clan crest, a spiral, and drew a line through it, “or any higher number of lines through the spiral is a fuuinjutsu user. They’ll be able to help you.”   
Shino nodded solemnly, while Naruto nodded excitedly.   
Semari gave them a blinding smile and turned to the other two. “What about you two, any particular area of being a ninja that catches your fancy?”   
Shikamaru sighed heavily. “Iryoninjutsu,” he admitted. “Troublesome.”   
Semari laughed. “Iryoninjutsu is very troublesome, little Nara-kun. And you, Sasuke-kun?”   
Sasuke thought about it for a moment. “Taijutsu and ninjutsu.”   
Semari hummed thoughtfully. “I’m afraid we don’t really have any fire jutsu, assuming you have a fire affinity, which you probably do, but taijutsu, we have quite a large selection of scrolls on that. Do you have a taijutsu style picked out yet?”   
Sasuke shrugged. “No, but my tou-san has already started me on the Uchiha style kata.”  
Semari thought about it for a moment. “If you like that style, you should be good, the Uchiha’s interceptor style is very Sharingan based though. You can look through the scrolls on Taijutsu styles we have and think about it, okay?”   
Sasuke nodded happily.   
“Am I interrupting something?” A female voice asked, prompting Sasuke to spin around, and Naruto and Shino to look over from the wall.   
‘Hihana-kaa-chan!’ Naruto signed excitedly before running over. ‘Semari-baa-chan said you were at an appointment, but wouldn’t tell me anything!’  
Hihana smiled. “Hello, Naruto-kun. And I was at an ultrasound appointment.”   
Naruto’s nose scrunched up. ‘A what?’  
“An ultrasound, it means she’s pregnant,” Shikamaru drawled, yawning.   
Naruto blinked a few times. ‘Like, with kids?’  
Hihana giggled. “Yes, Naruto-kun, with kids. Twins, actually. A pair of girls.”   
Understanding dawned on Naruto’s face, and he happily hugged Hihana. Once he detached, he flashed through some signs. ‘They healthy?’  
Hihana smiled. “Yes Naruto-kun, they’re healthy. Now, why don’t you introduce me to your friends?”  
Naruto turned to Shikamaru and began signing, Shikamaru translating for Sasuke and Shino. “This is Hihana-kaa-chan, she took care of me after the injury, and was the one to rush me to the hospital.”   
“I also got to threaten the nurse,” Hihana said conspiratorially, winking at them.   
Shino looked almost intrigued, or as intrigued as an Aburame can look. “You got away with it?”   
Hihana smirked. “It was Naruto-kun, of course, I got away with it. Hokage-sama was not going to reprimand me for saving the life of Naruto-kun, even if it did involve threatening one of his ninja.”   
Shino nodded thoughtfully.   
“Alright, who’s up for a trip to the library?” Semari asked, grinning.   
“But your secretary said we had thirty minutes,” Sasuke said, mild worry on his face.   
Semari grinned wider. “That was so I could go on lunch break. She forgot I have lunch with Kakashi-kun when he’s here. My lunch today is easily eaten while doing paperwork, so why don’t we go to the library?”   
Naruto hopped up and down excitedly. ‘Can we?’   
Semari smiled. “Yes, Naruto-kun, we can. C’mon, let’s go!” She herded them out of the door, smiling at Hihana. “You can come too Hihana-chan if Choryu-kun isn’t already worried sick.”   
Hihana smiled. “My husband will be fine. He’s not really the type to worry overly much. Besides, he will assume I stopped to grab something to eat if I’m late.” 

The boys ended up staying in the library while the adults left to get lunch. They weren’t hungry, not when they could be doing this. Shino began on the first of many fuuinjutsu books with Naruto, Sasuke began trying out some of the katas for the Raging Typhon style, and Shikamaru studied anatomy.   
By the end of the two weeks they were supposed to be there, Sasuke had decided he much preferred Uzumaki taijutsu styles, especially after trying a few of them, and seeing a couple demonstrated for him. Shino was now managing to correctly change things about his own explosive tags, Naruto had upgraded his barrier seals a few times, and Shikamaru had started trying to revive fish. He wasn’t quite good enough to manage it yet, and definitely didn’t have enough chakra, so he was trying to build up his chakra reserves. The Uzumaki were very helpful with all of their chakra exercises built for Uzumaki. Sure there was walking on water, but why just walk on water when you could be doing it on the ocean while someone else is saturating the water with their chakra just to make it harder? Or climbing trees that were sealed so thoroughly, they were absolutely coated in chakra which you had to get past just to climb the tree. Chakra intensive, and thus perfect for Uzumaki, and trying to increase your reserves. Naruto had been taught how to seal trees like that so Shikamaru could do it in Konoha too. 

Sasuke walked up to Iruka. “Iruka-sensei, weren’t we supposed to leave today?”   
Iruka gave him a strained smile. “There’s been a problem back in Konoha. They’re delaying our trip back by a few days. No more than a week. Why don’t you go tell your partners about it? You guys were in the library when I gave the announcement.”   
Sasuke nodded reluctantly and walked away to find his partners. They had apparently planted themselves on a rock outcropping that was high enough they’d be safe and dry on it even during high tide, even if they would be stuck there until the water receded.   
Naruto was the first to look up, hands placed in a sign Sasuke recognized as his own name.   
“Did you find out when we were leaving?” Shino asked, making moves to close his sealing book.   
Sasuke shrugged, sitting down and pulling out a scroll on a style called Mantis Strike. “We apparently won’t be leaving for a while, up to a week.”   
Naruto cocked his head, signing something.   
“Why?” Shikamaru translated.   
Sasuke shrugged. “Iruka-sensei said something about a problem back in Konoha.”   
Shikamaru frowned deeply at that. “A problem that delayed our trip? That implies we’re safer here than in Konoha, or perhaps it’s the trip back that’s the problem.”  
“We should get back inside the seal’s range,” Shino said, closing his book and tucking it in his backpack. “Why? It would be safer.”   
The others nodded, following his example and tossing their backpacks down onto the sand below the rock outcropping, far enough away that the tide would never reach them, as the sand up until that point was often damp at best.  
“Well well well, what do we have here?” A voice floated out across the ocean, and all four boys were immediately alert, Sasuke reaching for a kunai, Shino’s bugs buzzing at the edges of his sleeves, Shikamaru with a kunai already in his hands, and Naruto shrinking in on himself.   
Sasuke blinked a couple of times, hand falling away from his kunai pouch. “Guys, it’s my Aniki, Itachi.”   
Shikamaru frowned ever so slightly, brows furrowing. “Why is he out here?”   
“Good question.” Itachi’s voice praised arrogantly. He suddenly appeared, knocking Sasuke’s legs out from under him, swiftly disappearing, reappearing in front of Shino to push him off of the pillar into the ocean while knocking Naruto off of the other side, all while sneering arrogantly at Shikamaru.  
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, kunai held at the ready.   
Itachi tsked. “Really, I would’ve thought you’d know better, little Nara.”   
“I do,” Shikamaru admitted. “But every moment I delay, lets my friends get to safety.”   
Naruto did the opposite, of course, and launched himself right at Itachi, red chakra bubbling over his skin.   
Shika, momentarily stunned by the appearance of Naruto, was almost fried by a Katon jutsu, but his foot was pulled out from under him by Sasuke, making the fireball pass over his face almost harmlessly.   
Shikamaru’s head hit the pillar, and he saw stars for a moment. He quickly recovered, just to have Naruto thrown into him, pushing both over the side of the pillar, and into the ocean. As he sank, he hazily realized two things. One, he was now covered in chakra burns from Naruto, and the saltwater was making them sting like heck. Two, the water was much deeper than it should be. His back gently touched the bottom, and he hazily spotted a seal next to him before his world went dark.   
Sasuke barely registered Shikamaru and Naruto flying off of the pillar, focusing on Itachi as his eyes began to burn. “Itachi, why- why are you doing this?”   
Itachi snorted. “I always hated your voice. So high and reedy.”   
Sasuke’s hand flew to his throat, a subconscious attempt to protect it.   
Itachi sneered at Sasuke with a painfully familiar expression, the one Sasuke always saw on his father’s face. “So weak. I was strong at your age. I was a killer at your age. Look at you, hopelessly stalling and waiting, hoping foolishly for your friends to come back up. Guess what, they won’t.”  
Sasuke’s eyes began to burn worse, but he couldn’t close them, not with Itachi so close.   
“Aburame don’t do well in water. Their bugs get weighed down. And all that clothing? Tsk, so heavy when waterlogged. Your Nara friend? Hn, in that water, with those chakra burns from your Kyuubi friend? Doubtful he’ll survive. Look at that, all of your friends. Dead soon if not now, you’re the only one left. Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. A few, actually.” He leaned closer to Sasuke, and Sasuke leaned back ever so slightly, quivering slightly with fear and the pain from his eyes. “One, your friend there, he is the Kyuubi. You saw the chakra, how it burned your Nara friend.”   
Sasuke’s body was overcome with shudders, and he stepped back properly. “No, no, Naruto can’t be the Kyuubi! No!” He clutched at his head in disbelief.   
“Yess,” Itachi all but hissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, chronological order. So, yes, I’m having Shikamaru go into Medical ninjutsu, I think it’ll be fun. Next, This is Evil/Cracked!Itachi. He will not be redeemed. Also, yes, that burning is his eyes is the Sharingan.


	6. Chapter 6

“Yess,” Itachi all but hissed.  
“And two, you have no clan, I killed them. Every last one of them.”   
Sasuke gaped at his brother, more shudders wracking his small body. “Wh-What?! Y-you killed them!?”   
Itachi’s face turned into a predatory grin. “Yes, I did. Want to see?” His eyes flashed into a three-pointed shuriken design, and Sasuke was sucked into Tsukiyomi.   
Sasuke spiraled through the memories, watching them, never getting to look away. He saw the light leave his clan member’s eyes, saw their pointless struggle. He even saw Cousin Shisui’s death, a long fall from the top of a cliff overlooking the Naka River.  
Anytime he made a sound, whether it be a whimper, a scream, or a slight sniffle from crying, his parent’s voices, Itachi’s voice, Cousin Shisui’s voice, any other clan member Sasuke has known and cared about, scolded him mercilessly for showing weakness, for speaking out of turn, for speaking when there was no one who had spoken to him.   
Sasuke’s mind never stood a chance. 

He woke up in a hospital bed, disoriented and in so much pain. A young man who looked an awful lot like his Cousin Shisui, but with an arm made of fire, was sleeping peacefully in a chair next to his hospital bed. Sasuke immediately tried to leap from the bed. He had to know what happened to Shino, Shikamaru, and Naruto, and he had to know now! He had been strapped down however, an IV stuck firmly in his arm.   
He opened his mouth to scream, to do something, but without permission, the mocking and scolding voices of those he knew filled his mind, and his voice refused to work. Instead, he began to thrash, beginning to panic.   
The teen woke up with a start, displaying one green eye and one blue eye, nothing like an Uchiha’s. He leaped up, smashing his fire arm down on a nearby seal.   
A nurse hurried in and quickly moved to stop Sasuke’s thrashing, only to realize he was awake. “Sasuke, you’re okay now, you’re fine.”   
Sasuke stopped thrashing, trying to get his vocal cords to work. They still wouldn’t work, the scolding voices floating around his head again.   
The nurse looked confused. “Is there a problem Sasuke?”   
Sasuke couldn’t answer, so he twitched his arm.   
The nurse and the young man seemed to get it, and quickly undid the restraints.   
“Alright, Shisui, you stay here and watch him. I’ll go get a notepad and paper.” The nurse instructed quickly before moving quickly out of the door.   
Sasuke stared at Shisui in shock. Was it possible that this was actually his cousin? But what happened to his arm? And his eyes? Wait. Sasuke’s brain paused and picked a memory from the box Sasuke had subconsciously shoved them in. He quickly scanned it, and realized that as Shisui fell off of the cliff, it kinda looked like he had no eyes. Sasuke snapped back into real life and opened his mouth to ask a question, only for his vocal cords to not work. He frowned and tried again, the voice of Shisui, who was right in front of him, playing in his head, scolding him harshly for speaking out of turn, for being weak, for speaking at all.   
Sasuke closed his mouth again, realizing that nothing was going to come out, so he might as well stop trying.   
The nurse came back in and handed Sasuke a notepad and pencil with a smile.   
Sasuke quickly opened the notepad, scribbling quickly, ‘Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino?’   
The nurse tilted her head. “Are you asking if they’re okay?”   
Sasuke nodded emphatically.   
The nurse smiled. “Yes, they’re doing well. All three were treated for water in their lungs, and Naruto and Shino got out of the hospital in a couple of days. Shikamaru will get out of the hospital in a few days, we had some complications with the chakra burns. Nothing too bad, it just set back his healing a little bit.”   
Sasuke nodded, relieved. The chakra burns part made him remember what Itachi had said about his teammate.   
He quickly scribbled on the pad. ‘Naruto, Kyuubi?’   
Shisui looked shocked, as did the nurse. All of a sudden, Shisui’s expression darkened. “I am going to kill your older brother. If you don’t mind Sasuke.”   
Sasuke shook his head. He’d be fine with that. As far as he was concerned, he had no brother. Shisui could be his new one.   
“Not until you’re all cleared,” the nurse shot down Shisui’s idea immediately.   
Shisui drooped slightly. “Alright, I’ll wait.”   
Sasuke pointed at the words he’d written, a mildly irritated look on his face.  
Shisui sighed, pulling up a chair and straddling the back of it. “Sasuke, what do you know of the Kyuubi?”   
Sasuke thought for a moment, scribbling some words down. He showed them the notepad again. ‘Biju? Red chakra, Naruto?’  
Shisui sighed. “Alright, the Kyuubi attack was on the day of Naruto’s birth. Or rather, the night. A biju is a being of pure chakra. You can’t kill pure chakra, not really. When the Fourth Hokage battled the biju, he knew he had to seal it into something. Less powerful biju can be sealed into teapots, or into scrolls. The Kyuubi can only be sealed into an Uzumaki.”   
“Our chakra is dense enough that we can not die of chakra poisoning if we get a biju that powerful,” the nurse explained.   
“Sasuke, the Kyuubi is sealed inside of Naruto, but he is not the Kyuubi.”   
The nurse glanced at Sasuke’s confused expression. “Like a storage seal, but way more complicated. Naruto basically has a giant storage seal on his stomach that holds the Kyuubi. Different modifications to the seal allow him to draw on its chakra in dire situations. Unfortunately, biju chakra is highly corrosive, and that is what caused Shikamaru’s chakra burns.”   
Sasuke nodded, thinking hard. It fit, of course, in Konoha, the villagers hated Naruto and called him a demon, but didn’t here in Uzu. Because the Uzu citizens understood that Naruto was a container, not the biju itself. The jailor, not the criminal inside the prison.   
Shisui sighed. “Technically, you are bound by the Third’s law saying that no one can speak about it to anyone who doesn’t know. But with this, I think it’s about time we told Naruto ourselves. Uzu is not constrained by the Third’s law. But you can’t talk about it in Konoha, alright?”   
Sasuke nodded firmly. He held up the note pad, which had two more words on it: ‘tell Naruto.’   
Shisui sighed and nodded. “We will. He needs to know after this incident anyway. Unknown if he remembers the incident clearly, we haven’t spoken to him about it.”  
‘How long?’   
Shisui cocked his head. “How long? Oh, you’ve been asleep for about half a week.”   
Sasuke was stunned.   
Shisui shrugged. “We’re pretty sure you were hit by a special Sharingan technique that warps time. It’s a genjutsu, and depending on the length of contact, you can stay in there anywhere from one day, to four. 24 hours, to 96 hours straight. We weren’t entirely sure that you would wake up, to be honest, it’s a very difficult technique to predict.”   
Sasuke frowned, but was overtaken by a yawn.   
Shisui smiled. “Sleep, little cousin. We’ll try and get your friends in here when you next wake up.”   
Sasuke was too sleepy to bother protesting the little cousin bit, his eyes closed, and his breathing settled.

The next time Sasuke woke up, Naruto was sleeping in the chair. Sasuke looked around, spotting Shino in the corner, watching him. Sasuke waved a bit, and Shino nodded to him.   
Shino moved around, gently waking Naruto with a touch on his shoulder.   
Naruto blinked awake, looking around for a moment, before realizing Sasuke was awake. Naruto lit up like a Christmas tree, and quickly latched onto Sasuke, bouncing slightly.   
Naruto detached, beginning to rapidly sign, before realizing that no one in the room could actually understand it, as Shikamaru was down the hall.  
Naruto pouted and dropped down into the seat.   
Shino adjusted his glasses, and walked out of the room, coming back in with Shikamaru leaning heavily on him, bandages wrapping around his chest and arms. Naruto winced as he saw him, signing what Sasuke assumed was an apology, as Shikamaru waved it off.   
Naruto began signing again, but this time, Naruto had Shikamaru to translate.   
“Are you okay? You haven’t spoken a word since you woke up, is there a reason?”   
Sasuke held up a hand to stop the flood of questions. He spotted the pad of paper, and quickly picked it up, writing quickly. ‘Yes, I’m fine, you? And yes, there’s a reason, don’t wanna talk about it.’   
Naruto thought for a bit, then began signing.   
“I’m fine, and it’s fine if you don’t wanna talk about it. We really have to teach you signs now.” Shikamaru yawned at the end, displacing Naruto and sort of draping himself over the chair like a human-shaped rug, being careful of his wounds.   
The nurse came in and smiled at Sasuke. “Alright, time to let him sleep. We don’t want him taxing himself quite yet. He still has to recover properly from nearly drowning.”   
They all nodded, reluctantly leaving. Sasuke let out the yawn he’d been holding in, and set the notepad aside.   
“Have a good rest,” the nurse said softly, adjusting his IV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke is mute now, to be clear. It’s due to trauma, and I looked this up. It can, and has happened IRL. So, yeah, Shisui’s in Uzu now. He will remain as an Uzu shinobi, as Danzo would probably try and kill him if he knew he was alive. He does go by Uzumaki now, as the Uchiha clan is supposed to be dead except for Sasuke. Terribly sorry I was late, I forgot to update it here!


	7. Back to Konoha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Sasuke does have the Mangekyou, to be clear, he will not be using it though.

Sasuke woke up for the final time in the hospital to Shisui quietly reading a book. He glanced up, grinning as he saw Sasuke was awake. “Good morning!”  
Sasuke nodded, sitting up to try and see the book. Shisui flashed him the cover, and Sasuke realized it was a book on Konoha shinobi sign language.   
“Assuming you have the Sharingan,” Shisui said, plopping the book in his lap. “Which, really, if you didn’t, I’d be really surprised and then assume you just don’t have it at all, cause really, thinking you saw three of your new friends die, then being Tsukiyomi’d? Yeah, that’d awaken a Sharingan for sure.”   
Sasuke blinked at him.   
Shisui sighed. “Basically, you should have the Sharingan, send chakra to your eyes then read the book. Read it quickly, you have full reserves right now, but the Sharingan saps chakra like you wouldn’t believe.”   
Sasuke nodded, and turned his focus to the book, pushing chakra towards his eyes. 

His friends found him ten minutes later, the book on his nightstand, and him rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.   
‘Sasuke?’ Naruto sighed, Shikamaru translating out loud.   
Sasuke’s hands dropped from his eyes, and he blinked blearily at them. ‘What?’ He asked, using the knowledge that had been implanted in his head because of the Sharingan.   
“You know sign language,” Shino stated.   
Sasuke nodded, gesturing towards the book on the bedside table. Shino picked it up, scanning it.   
Shikamaru yawned. “Sharingan, I’m assuming?”   
Sasuke nodded sheepishly.   
Shino stared at the book in his hands. “I will have to endeavor to learn quickly. Why? Because I do not wish to be the only one in the group who can not understand Naruto and Sasuke.”   
‘Well, according to Semari-baa-chan, we’ll be here for another five days at least, cause that’s when they can spare Jounin to escort us. A large contingent of Jounin were sent with our class, and we have to wait for the to come back and recover so they can escort us!’ Naruto signed excitedly, but slowly, letting Shino see.   
Shino nodded, signaling he got it.   
‘They didn’t make you go back to Konoha with the rest of the class,’ Sasuke signed, mildly confused.  
Shikamaru yawned. “I’m still healing, and so are you.”  
‘I have nothing back in Konoha for me,’ Naruto signed. ‘No one to make me come back if I don’t want to.’  
“My father gave me permission to remain behind. Why? Because he believes you are good for me.” He received deadpan stares all around, and clarified. “Aburame are not known for their social lives.”   
‘Understatement of the day,’ Sasuke replied sarcastically.   
“My father believes you are good for me socially. Aburame are commonly treated as slightly less than human, due to the bugs inhabiting our bodies, penchant for logic-based decisions, and general lack of showing emotion.”   
Naruto nodded. ‘Makes sense I suppose. So, what to do while you recover?”   
‘Read,’ Sasuke told him. ‘Which, I would like to be doing. If you could find the third book in that series I like, I’d be very happy.’  
‘I’ll look for it,’ Naruto promised.   
Sasuke nodded.   
In came the nurse, shooing his friends out for the time being. Telling them to put Shikamaru back in his room, and go and get some lunch. 

Two days later, everyone was out of the hospital.   
“Hey, Shino, I was wondering if you and your friend would like to see the other side of the island?” Choryu asked, bounding up to them. “There’s an ant colony over there that has taken up the entire path by now, and I was wondering if you could maybe convince them to relocate or something.”   
“Ants?” Shino asked. “What species?”  
“Uh, lion ants? I think that’s what they’re called anyway.”   
Shino nodded. “I will go with you. Why? Because my father has some in his colony but cannot spare any for me to start my own colony, and I have been cleared for a second colony of my choosing for some time.”   
“Relocation at it’s finest,” Choryu sighed happily. “Alright! What about you guys?”   
Shikamaru was already shaking his head. “I have another fish attempt this afternoon.”   
Naruto shrugged. ‘Sure!’   
Sasuke thought about it, then shook his head. ‘No thank you.’   
“Alright! Let’s go! I already asked Semari, so we’re cleared to go. We’ll be back in time for dinner! If we weren’t, my wife would skin me alive, send me in for healing, then do it again!”  
“That would be ill-advised,” Shino agreed.   
Shikamaru watched them walk away, waved goodbye to Sasuke, who seemed to be heading into the market district, and walked towards the hospital again. Honestly, he’d spent enough time in there already, but he had iryoninjutsu to learn. And he was pretty sure he’d lost any and all chakra control while he’d been in the hospital for almost a week.   
He hadn’t, luckily, and made more progress with the fish this time. He actually got its lungs working for a bit, then he started feeling woozy from chakra exhaustion, and his teacher tossed the fish into the nearby bucket, sitting him down.   
“Alright, we’re done for the day. You’ve made good progress. I’d advise working with the Konoha hospital staff.”   
Shikamaru nodded, wearily getting to his feet and wandering off in the direction of the hotel they had been staying at. 

Finally, finally, they arrived back in Konoha, Sasuke was understandably rather upset and protested returning to the empty compound. Protested very silently and with lots of signed expletives. (Thanks Shisui) They let him stay with Naruto for the time being and tried not to think about where tiny Sasuke could have learned that many cuss words, let alone how to sign them.

They never did manage to make Sasuke move into his own house, and gave up trying after a few months. They made several more trips to Uzushiogakure, luckily, none of them were quite as exciting as the first one. Shikamaru finally got his chakra levels up to a good place for a standard genin, if a bit high, and basically stopped speaking entirely, except when someone needed a translation and Shino wasn’t there to do it. Naruto and Shino continued studying sealing, and while Naruto was basically always going to be ahead of Shino due to genetics, and starting earlier, Shino was at a fairly comfortable level of the basic seal master by the time he was a genin. He even got a patch. Sasuke continued studying taijutsu styles, all of them Uzumaki styles, except for Shisui’s.   
The biggest interesting thing happened two years away from graduation, and not to any of them.

Ino walked into class, the edges of her trench coat flapping at her heels. She’d originally gotten it because she had thought it’d make her look cool, but that had both been from an earlier era of her life, and it had been quite a bit too big on her. It fit perfectly now, and she had it wrapped tightly around her. A clan jutsu had gone wrong when she tried it, and she was stuck with the consequences. It was the mind destruction jutsu. She’d tried it, despite the fact her father had advised against it, and it had blown up in her face. Or rather, in her mind.  
According to her dad, she was lucky she wasn’t a vegetable. As it was, her personality had been changed quite thoroughly, and her dad said there wasn’t a way to reverse it without possibly making it worse. Her classmates would probably be very confused, but they would manage. Iruka had already been informed, as she had missed the day before so she could recover. None of her memories were changed or anything, it was just that her personality had shifted. A lot.   
“Ino-pig!” Sakura greeted loudly as Ino walked in.   
“Sakura,” Ino greeted back, but much quieter.  
“Eh? What’s up with you Ino, you haven’t called me Sakura since second year!”   
Ino shrugged, moving around her former best friend. She spotted Sasuke and tried shouting his name to get his attention, but unfortunately, nothing came out of her mouth. She settled in behind him, content to watch his back.   
After about a half-hour in class, Ino realized that Sasuke was not as cute as she remembered. Rather, Choji, of all people, was catching her eye now. Sure he was a bit chubby, but all the better to hide behind, her instincts figured. The part of her mind that was still the old Ino fought back, insisting Sasuke was better than the fatso, but it was quickly stamped down by the new section of Ino’s mind, the current dominant one that insisted that Choji would care, Choji would protect her.   
Her father had said it would be easier if she didn’t pay much attention to the smaller part of her mind that was the original her. It would diminish, and eventually disappear. Holding onto it would just make it more difficult for her, and possibly result in two completely different personalities, leading to Multiple Personality Disorder, which could stop her from being a ninja.   
As lunch break was called, Ami, a bully of the class, sauntered up to Ino. “Oh, Ino~” she sang. “I hear you’ve had a personality swap.”   
Ino discreetly edged closer to Choji, half hiding behind his bulk. “W-where’d you hear that?” She asked, cursing the stutter that made itself apparent.   
Ami grinning evilly. “From your friend Sakura over there. No one to protect her anymore.”  
“She doesn’t need it anymore,” Ino whispered.   
“Apparently, you do,” Ami sniped back, Choji looking between the two girls in confusion. “Why are you hiding behind fatso there?”  
Choji’s face heated up dangerously, and Ino nudged farther behind him. “What did you call me?”   
“Fat,” Ami said, smirking at him. “A big fatso who doesn’t stop eating.”   
Iruka quickly appeared next to Ami and grabbed her by her collar, lifting her into the air. “Outside you two.” He quickly disappeared in a poof of smoke, and Choji got up from his seat, racing out the door in pursuit of his prey.   
Ino followed timidly, standing in the doorway to the school to watch.   
Ami had been set down in the sparring ring with Iruka standing by. Probably so Ami didn’t end up dead.   
In the end, Ami was quickly flattened by Choji’s family jutsu. And, in the end, that just cemented Ino’s newfound crush on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Yeah, so you can blame DeadGirlRisen for this, but yeah, Hinata and Ino are now on the same level of shy. Also, Iruka knew what was going to happen, and didn’t want the room destroyed. Who wants their room destroyed? Poor Tenzo would have to rebuild it.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone adjusted to Ino’s odd personality switch fairly quickly, except Sakura, who seemed to never quite get it, and for some reason would keep trying to challenge her for Sasuke, despite the fact that Ino was clearly not interested anymore. Hinata and Ino quickly struck up a friendship, bonding over their shared shyness about approaching their crushes. 

“These will be your team assignments until you make chuunin at least,” Iruka said, holding up his clipboard.   
Sasuke watched Iruka read out the names, finally reaching his name. “Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara.”   
Naruto and Sasuke traded happy glances, and Shikamaru yawned widely.   
“Team 8, Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Choji Akimichi.” Iruka continued, all three people called exchanged shy glances, Ino and Choji immediately looked away, both blushing furiously.   
Shino waited patiently for his name to be called, hiding his hands in his jacket. He’d picked up Naruto’s drawing seals everywhere habit, it really was a good stress reliever, and was trying to not draw seals all over the desk in front of him. Or all over his arms. He didn’t want to give too much away to his new sensei, especially not if the second test rumors were correct. Afterward, he would reveal what he had not during the secondary test.   
“And finally, Team 10, Sakura Haruno,” Sakura looked hopeful as her name was called. “Kiba Inuzuka,” Sakura drooped somewhat, glaring at Kiba, who was glaring right back. “And Shino Aburame.”   
Shino sweatdropped. Of course, he had to be with the two loudest people in the class. It had been Sakura and Ino, then Ino had that incident. Ah well, thank Kami for silencing seals.   
Naruto patted Shino’s shoulder and flashed him the sign for sympathy.   
“Come back after lunch to meet your jounin sensei,” Iruka instructed. “You have thirty minutes.”   
‘Where should we go for lunch?’ Naruto asked, making sure all three of his best friends saw the signs.   
“Somewhere they won’t be nearby. Why? Because while they are busy glaring at each other, they won’t be forever,” Shino murmured, glancing at his teammates.  
‘Have some seals to draw?’ Sasuke asked, a slight smirk on his lips.   
‘They’re already drawn,’ Shino signed back. ‘Now I’m coloring them. Why? Because if they match their clothes so they won’t notice for longer.’   
Naruto perked up. ‘Can I help? I like coloring!’   
‘It’s going to have to be one color, Naruto,’ Shikamaru somehow managed to drawl in hand signs, as he always did.   
Naruto shrugged. ‘So?’   
Shino shook his head and watched Sakura and Kiba leave, still glaring daggers at each other. ‘Let’s just do it here, actually. Why? Because laying on the sidewalk is uncomfortable.’   
Shikamaru cracked a slight grin. ‘And it’s too troublesome to move.’   
Naruto giggled silently. ‘Alright, I have crayons, where’s the silencing seals?’

They had finished and stored the seals away by the time everyone came back in, with only Iruka being any the wiser.   
“Your jounin sensei should be here shortly,” Iruka informed them, then sat down to work at his desk.   
A bearded jounin came in first, glancing around. “Team 10, you’re with me.”   
Shino sighed, reluctantly getting up and following his new teammates and sensei out. Thankfully, Sakura and Kiba seemed to be busy squabbling quietly and paid no attention to him as he gently tapped each of their backs, putting the silencing seals in place. He just had to activate them. They both frowned at him when they felt the tap on their backs, but he just watched them steadily until they went back to their whispered argument.   
The whispered argument quickly dissolved into a fistfight when they reached the training ground, Sakura yelling something about being able to hit things and Kiba yelling right back that she couldn’t.  
Shino looked to his sensei. “Are you expecting introductions out of us?”   
Asuma blinked at the catfight and shook his head. “Nope. I was going to, but I can read your files. Or ask if I need to. You may leave, but be back here tomorrow at 8 in the morning.”  
Shino nodded. “I will be there. Why? Because it is expected.” He faced the catfight, and make the ram symbol. “Fuuinjutsu: seal.” When he walked away, the catfight, er, dog and human fight, continued, but it had been silenced completely. Asuma stared after him in slight wonder. 

It took a bit, but Kakashi finally arrived and had them follow him to the roof.   
‘You already know us Sensei,’ Naruto deadpanned.   
“You are correct, so, instead, I want to know how Shino’s doing. Kurenai has her team of shy children, you lot are basically all mute, and Shino has the loudest kids in class.”   
‘Silencing seals,’ Naruto signed with a smirk.   
Kakashi nodded. “I will inform Asuma. He will manage?”   
Sasuke nodded. ‘He will manage.’   
Kakashi stared at them for a long moment, then sighed. “The Chuunin Exams are going to be fun.”   
Shikamaru yawned. ‘We’ll see about that.’  
“Alright you three, scram, and be at that big red bridge I taught you lot signs at tomorrow at 7.” With that, Kakashi shunshined away.   
‘Hey, we can finally pester him about teaching us that!’ Naruto cheered.   
Sasuke nodded happily. ‘Finally, I can actually use Cousin Shisui’s taijutsu style properly!’  
‘What’s that, your third style mastered?’ Shikamaru signed, yawning.   
‘Fifth,’ Sasuke corrected.   
Naruto glanced around, then hopped up. ‘C’mon, we can go practice!’  
‘Alright,’ Sasuke signed. 

Kakashi slid into the booth, signaling for a cup of sake.   
Asuma sighed, tossing back a drink. “Don’t you have the three mutes?”   
“Two mutes and one that’s too lazy to bother speaking,” Kakashi corrected.   
Kurenai slid into the booth next to Asuma, dragging a hand down her face. “These three are the shyest people I have ever met. They barely said a thing during introductions!”   
“Ino was one of the loudest kids in the class,” Asuma commented idly.   
“Inoichi said she had a mind destruction technique blow up in her face. She went through a personality change a year or two ago.” Kakashi muttered, tossing back a shot of sake.   
Kurenai sighed. “I’m sure that both Ino and Choji have a crush on each other, and, even worse, they know that the other has a crush on them, they’re just so freaking shy, that they basically refused to acknowledge it! It’s so infuriating, even worse than Hinata’s crush on Naruto.” She sighed and drank more sake. “I think I‘m not ready for a team of the shyest people I have ever met.”   
“Ask the Hokage, and see if you can trade two of them,” Asuma groaned. “I’m just waiting for Sakura’s parents to hound me about her getting a silencing tag stuck to her back courtesy of Shino.”   
Kakashi shrugged. “I have no problems with my kids. Although, I may trade Sasuke for Neji or Tenten upon occasion so that he can spar with Lee and Gai. I’m not leaving Gai with four genin at once, that would be cruel. Maybe I’ll take Tenten and teach her more about the tanto.”   
Asuma groaned again, drinking more sake. “And I’m betting that Tsume isn’t even going to complain cause she’ll be too busy laughing her backend off!”   
Kakashi sighed and prepared to most likely take Asuma and Kurenai home at the end of the night. 

Naruto spent more time at his friend’s clan compounds then he did at his apartment. Honestly, he couldn’t care less if his apartment building burned down right now, he didn’t keep anything valuable in it, and he had clothes in all three of his friend’s closets. Admittedly, they all had clothes in each other’s closets, a result of spending many, many nights over at each other’s houses and staying up all night studying together. Sasuke’s compound was used for taijutsu and ninjutsu training, the Nara compound was mostly for book work, and the Aburame compound was mostly just general sleepovers. And school work, couldn’t forget the school work.   
Currently, they were at Sasuke’s house, Naruto and Sasuke discussing tactics while Shikamaru napped. For the fourth time that day.   
“Am I interrupting anything?” Shino asked, walking in.   
Naruto’s head snapped around to look at him. ‘Nope!’ He signed. ‘How’d it go?’  
“My teammates were squabbling, so after a bit, I silenced them and walked away to continue with my day.”  
‘How’d Asuma take that?’ Sasuke asked, interested.   
“He was staring at me as I left. He is most likely getting drunk right now Why? Because he is most likely anticipating the headache that will come from Sakura’s parents.”  
‘Kiba’s mom will be too busy laughing to even think about confronting him about it,’ Sasuke agreed, a very slight smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DeadGirlRisen was behind the Kiba’s mom thing. So, yes, I usually have Sakura’s parents like they are in canon, so, ninja.


	9. Chapter 9

It was a headache. Two days of silencing seals later, the Haruno’s visited the training field with their daughter. Shino, being the sealmaster he was, put a silencing seal on Sakura right away, but didn’t activate it.   
“Why is our daughter coming home with silencing seals on her clothing?” Mebuki demanded.   
Asuma laughed slightly, mostly to relieve some tension. “Uhm, it’s a training exercise. No better time to learn Shinobi Sign Language right away, right? And what better way to do it then force them to use it during practice? Your daughter is doing very well.” She was actually doing very well, bringing a book for her and Kiba to share when they needed to talk, and she was getting less and less reliant on it by the day, and he’d only had her for two days.   
“Shino isn’t silenced!” Sakura screeched.   
Shino silenced her as his bugs buzzed, irritated at the sudden loud noise. “Because I already know SSL. And I do not screech and upset my own Kikachu. I have asked you repeatedly to not screech because it disturbs my insects.”   
Mr. Haruno raised an eyebrow at Shino. “You say you already know SSL?”   
Shino nodded, and started signing. ‘Two of my best friends are mute, I learned it when I was younger.’  
Mebuki raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment.   
Shino glanced at his teammates, who were squabbling silently by playing a game of charades. Briefly he wondered if he could get Sasuke or Shisui to come in and teach them expletives. It would certainly entertain them for a while. Then they could cuss at each other all they wanted. Then, Shino’s brain wouldn’t interpret their charades for him. Most of which, he really wished he hadn’t seen. They were… very creative.   
“Well, please take the tag off after practice, if we don’t remember to remove it, the dress goes through the wash, and the tag is on there permanently, all smudged and stuff,” Mebuki said finally.   
Shino wondered if he could draw the seal in that invisible ink the Uzumaki had. He didn’t own any himself, but he knew Kakashi would be sending a letter to Semari soon, and he could always ask him to ask Semari for some. If he drew it on the backs of their necks, then he could activate or deactivate it at any time. No more tags, and if Hana, Kiba’s older sister, requested how to activate them, which was highly likely, given that she was his older sister, he could show her how to activate it, and maybe, Kiba would come to practice muted. A win-win for everyone except Kiba.   
He decided to bring it up with Naruto after practice. 

“Well,” Kakashi said, brushing soot out of his silver hair. “It actually hit me this time.”   
Sasuke nodded, giving a thumbs up.   
“That’s not supposed to be good,” Kakashi deadpanned.   
Sasuke shrugged.   
“We have got to figure out how to manage your jutsu without saying anything,” Kakashi said, sighing. “That’s the fifteenth time that’s blown up in one of our faces.”   
Sasuke shrugged helplessly. ‘I can’t sign its name while I’m trying to do jutsu hand signs, it just isn’t possible.’  
“Yes, I am aware of that Sasuke.”  
‘I can do the Kage bunshin technique without saying it!’ Naruto offered.   
“That jutsu was basically made for Uzumaki,” Kakashi deadpanned. “Loads of chakra, and basically just shoving chakra outside of your body.”   
‘You’re duplicating yourself with chakra, it’s a bit more complicated than that,’ Shikamaru drawled.   
Naruto and Kakashi shrugged.   
“These are Uzumaki, what did you expect?” Kakashi asked.   
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and Kakashi was forced to sit down with a slouch, signaling Shikamaru had caught him in his jutsu. “Shadow possession complete.”   
Kakashi sighed heavily, but didn’t fight the jutsu.   
Shikamaru pulled out a kunai, forcing Kakashi to do the same, and slashed across his wrist, Kakashi imitating his every move. Shikamaru dropped the kunai, hand glowing green as he healed his cut. The shadow became tinted green, and Kakashi’s cut glowed slightly, closing.   
“Shadow healing, success,” Shikamaru said, looking almost triumphant, in his lazy way. He released the jutsu, releasing Kakashi, who went back to trying to get Sasuke’s jutsu to not blow up in their faces. 

Shino walked up a few minutes after his own practice ended, to find Team 7 still training. Well, Naruto was drawing a seal, and Shikamaru was trying to fight Sasuke off while healing Kakashi at the same time. It was not going well, so Shino just jumped in, taking Sasuke as his opponent and leaving Shikamaru to heal the jagged cut across Kakashi’s arm, most likely given by Kakashi himself.   
‘You weren’t supposed to intervene,’ Sasuke signed, before leaping back into fighting him, using a different style than the one he’d been using to fight Shikamaru.   
Shino shrugged minutely. “I was here, I figured I might as well help and get a spar out of it. Why? Because Asuma spends most of his time allowing Sakura and Kiba to fight, and excuse me if I do not want to get in the way of that.”  
Sasuke nodded, seeming to understand as he switched styles yet again. What made Sasuke so freaking hard to fight? Uzumaki styles could be based on almost anything, from speed, strength, flexibility, to knowing where to hit people with poisoned things. One of the many reasons Uzumaki were so feared, all of them had a different taijutsu style, but could often use several within their specific specialty. Used in conjunction with their seals, they would switch taijutsu styles just to confuse their opponent, then slap a couple of seals on them and be done with it all.   
The first one Sasuke had learned, and the one he was using now, was Mantis Strike. It was based on speed and precision. Shikamaru had helped Sasuke memorize where to hit to make his strikes effective.   
Salmon style, the one he’d been using while fighting Shikamaru before, was based on flexibility and strength, with just a touch of speed. It allowed someone to bend and weave around attacks that most people wouldn’t have been able to dodge. The hits weren’t as precise as Mantis Strike, but had far more strength behind them, not unlike the Taijutsu style Hard Fist that Maito Gai and Rock Lee used.   
And there he went changing his style yet again. This time it was Bone Crusher style, a very intimidating style, at least to watch. It was very similar to the punching style Tsunade Senju used, but a bit more refined, and more prone to hitting the opponent. It was, as the name suggested, rather prone to breaking bones.   
Shino was thrown back, his fall only softened by a pillowing seal he had long since written on his back, and on his jacket. Just in case.   
Sasuke came over, offering the seal on concolliation. Shino made the same seal, accepting Sasuke’s hand to pull him up. His arm had to be at least fractured from that last hit, so he went over to see their resident medic, Shikamaru.   
Shikamaru healed it without complaint, but Shino could see the beginnings of chakra exhaustion forming on his face.   
“You’re dismissed for the day,” Kakashi said, nodding to Shino.   
Shino nodded to the others as they began walking off, and walked up to Kakashi. “I wish for you to request the invisible ink that sinks into skin and doesn’t come out from Semari. Why? Because Sakura’s parents have requested I stop with the tags, and I feel this is the best option.”  
Kakashi nodded. “Alright, I’ll do that. Have a good day Shino.”  
“You too Kakashi-sensei.”   
With that, Shino turned and followed his friends off of the training ground and into the village. 

Shino did end up drawing the seal on the back of their necks, or rather, his kikaichu did. It worked wonderfully, and there were no more complaining parents. Hana did come up and ask about how to activate the seal, and so did Tsume, but Shino figured it was so Kiba could talk at all. He was merciful though, once he, or the person who had activated the seal was a certain amount away, the seal automatically deactivated.   
D-ranks were interesting affairs, Tora was quickly equipped with a paralyzing and tracking seal, courtesy of Naruto and Shino. Their teams had Tora catching duty whenever possible.   
Team 8 had problems with D-ranks, and were usually accompanied by either Kiba or Sakura, who pretty much spoke for the entire team. When the genin needed to speak, anyway.   
Team 7 also had problems with D-ranks, especially the more social ones, as while Shikamaru could translate, and so could Kakashi, it was always very awkward to explain that Naruto had gotten a throat injury as a child, and no you can’t see the scar because it was healed really well, and Sasuke was traumatized into not speaking by his evil older brother. Yeah, awkward.   
Team 10 had the least problems with D-ranks, as Shino usually didn’t mute his teammates on them, so they didn’t have any problems with talking. Although they were usually a person short, as Kiba or Sakura would be helping Team 8 get stuff done.   
Personally, Shino was pretty sure that most of Konoha was under the impression there was something seriously wrong with their graduation class. They weren’t wrong, but still. They were all quiet for various reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will not be doing the Wave mission, as Uzushio would’ve taken care of that, and probably fairly easily. There will be a joint Uzushio/Konoha C-ranked mission, however. So you’ll get to see some Uzu genin in action.


	10. Chapter 10

‘Can we have a C-rank?’ Naruto asked. ‘I am so tired of being asked why I can’t speak!’  
‘Me too!’ Sasuke signed.   
“Well, it just so happens that we have a joint mission with Uzushio,” the Hokage said, picking up a scroll. “Bandit extermination.”   
Kakashi looked at his genin. “You good with that?”   
Naruto nodded hesitantly, and so did Sasuke. Shikamaru just yawned, and Kakashi took that as a yes.   
“We’ll take it, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi said. “Do we know which Uzu team we’re doing it with?”   
“Shisui Akai Arashi Uzumaki is listed as the jounin sensei if you know him.”   
Sasuke perked up. ‘Yeah, we know him. Don’t know his team though.’   
The Hokage nodded. “Alright then. Here’s the mission scroll. Shisui-san and his team will be waiting for you at the Uzu shoreline.”   
Kakashi nodded, taking the scroll, then ushering his students out.   
Once outside, he scanned the scroll. “Alright, go home and pack for a couple of weeks. We meet at the gate in two hours.”   
The three nodded, Shikamaru separating to head to the Nara compound, and Naruto and Sasuke heading to their shared apartment. 

They met Shisui on the shore to Uzu, as the Hokage had said.  
“Hello!” Shisui shouted as soon as they were in earshot. “Fancy getting you as our accompanying team!”   
Kakashi shrugged. “My poor little genin were getting annoyed with all of the curious civilians.”   
Shisui nodded. “Understandable. I went to the trouble of teaching my adorable little genin Konoha SSL for a reason.”   
“Something you forgot to explain, Shisui-sensei” one of the two female genin, a red-head with orange eyes said, mild irritation in her tone.   
“Oops, well, this is Kakashi’s team of cute little genin, and 2/3rds of them are mute!”   
‘The other third is too lazy to bother speaking most of the time,’ Naruto signed, laughing silently.   
“Why don’t you introduce yourselves?” Kakashi said.   
“Umihebiro. You can call me Umi.” The red-head with the orange eyes said. “I’m from the Iyashino Shio branch.”   
“Yunikon,” the male genin said, adjusting his sunglasses. He had red hair too, as did their third teammate. “I’m from the Difenda no Shio branch.”  
“Mameidoko. You can call me Eidoko,” she had bluish-green eyes, and much darker red hair then her teammates. “I’m from the Akai Arashi branch.”   
‘Naruto Uzumaki! Semari-baa-chan says I’m from the Hogo Uzu branch!’   
‘Sasuke Uchiha.’  
‘Shikamaru Nara.’  
“Nice to meet you,” Yunikon said, smiling. “Where is our joint mission actually going to be? You never said, Shisui-sensei.”   
Shisui glanced at Kakashi to see if he was going to tell them and realized that no, the lazy jounin wasn’t. “A small town just a little ways from here. It’s right on the border, which is why this is a joint mission instead of just one village or the other.”   
Kakashi nodded. “Also, Hokage-sama and Semari like to have joint missions, especially before Chuunin Exams, just to get a better feel for the teams the other will be sending. And let the genin get to know each other.”   
“So, we will be going to the Chuunin Exams,” Eidoko said, grinning. “Nice!”   
“I can still not nominate you!” Shisui threatened, grinning just as widely. “I haven’t done that yet! It’s still theoretical at this point.”  
His genin frowned at him.   
“Just saying!” Shisui chirped. “Ah shoot, that means I have to go to Konoha. Drat.”   
“You’ll be fine” Kakashi dismissed.   
Shisui raised an eyebrow at him and gestured to his left arm. ”I only have so many lives, Hatake!”  
Kakashi waved a hand. “You’ve got at least seven more.”  
“I am not a cat, Hatake. I don’t even summon them!”  
Yunikon sidled over to Sasuke. “Do you know what they’re arguing about? Why can’t Shisui-sensei go back to Konoha?”  
‘Oh, He’s supposed to be dead in Konoha. Konoha thinks he killed himself,’ Sasuke signed, ‘He’s my cousin.’   
“Uh, you’re an Uchiha, he’s an Uzumaki,” Yunikon pointed out.   
‘He wasn’t an Uzumaki for the first 16 years of his life,’ Sasuke signed. ‘He was attacked by a bad dude in Konoha, and that dude poisoned him, so he fell off a cliff, but Orochimaru-san found him and saved his life.’  
“Ah, I see, I think. So Semari took him in and made him an Uzumaki. Wait, if he was an Uchiha, why are his eyes like that?”  
‘The bad guy stole one of his eyes, and he gave the other to his friend. Orochimaru-san gave him new ones. Shisui doesn’t mind,’ Naruto volunteered.   
“I would hope not, not being able to see stinks.”  
“You would know,” Umi agreed. “Being blind and all.”  
‘You’re blind?’ Shikamaru asked. ‘How are you knowing what we’re signing?’  
Yunikon tapped his sunglasses. “They have seals on them that bypass my optical nerve, connecting it to my glasses instead, which let me see.”   
Naruto touched his throat, tilting his head.   
Yunikon got the gesture’s meaning and shrugged. “It may be possible to adapt it for bypassing your damaged vocal cords, but I’m not an Iyashino Shio branch member.”  
“I am,” Umi offered. “It should be possible, but I wouldn’t be able to draw up a prototype for now. And it’d need something to latch onto, something that would go around your throat. Not to mention you would have to relearn to speak, and remember to put it on, well, it would be an interesting adjustment.”   
‘Troublesome,’ Shikamaru signed, yawning.   
“Whatever,” Shisui said, folding his arms and turning away from Kakashi. “We’ll deal with it later.”   
Naruto glanced between them for a bit, then shrugged, and started signing. ‘So, are we doing this, or not?’  
Shisui perked up slightly. “Right! This way. Bandit camp over there!” 

“Shisui-sensei?” Umi asked quietly, tugging on his sleeve.   
“Yeah?”   
“Would now be an appropriate time to summon?”   
Shisui tilted his head, surveying the bandit camp they were watching. “Sure, we could probably use the help.”  
“Your kids can summon already?” Kakashi hissed to Shisui.   
“Uzushio kids can summon when jounin get them,” Shisui whispered back. “And I got these ones second hand.”   
Umi, ignoring the jounin, bit her thumb, drawing blood, and slamming her hand down on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared, and when it cleared, a girl stood there. She had dark blue skin and hair, except for a thick stripe of tan running down her stomach, and yellow on her sides.   
She glanced around, noting the bandit camp. “Hello!” She said quietly.   
“Anmari,” Umi greeted.   
The newly named Anmari turned to face her summoner. “Oh, Umi! I haven’t been summoned by you in a while! Who’re they?”  
“Anmari, meet my team, Yunikon, and Eidoko, and the non-redhead teens are a Konoha team.”   
‘Hi!’ Naruto sighed, waving.  
Anmari waved back. “Name?”   
‘Naruto Uzumaki!’ Came the enthusiastic reply.   
Anmari inclined her head. “Nice to meet you, Naruto. Is there a reason you’re from Konoha?”   
Naruto chuckled soundlessly, rubbing the back of his head. ‘Ah, my mother was an Uzumaki, and she lived in Konoha. Got my dad’s coloring.’   
“Ah,” Anmari said. She turned to Sasuke. “You are?”   
‘Sasuke Uchiha,’ Sasuke replied, nodding politely. ‘That’s Shikamaru Nara.’  
“From the clan of lazy geniuses?” Anmari asked, a faint smile on her face.   
Sasuke and Naruto nodded in sync. Anmari snickered softly. “So, what’s going on?” She asked, glancing at the bandit camp. “Other than a joint mission.”   
“Bandit extermination,” Umi said, glancing at their still arguing sensei.   
Anmari nodded. “Alright, I can work with that!”   
‘So, why are you the Iyashino Shio branch’s summons?’ Shikamaru wondered.   
Anmari grinned, showing a different set of teeth, this set all sharp and pointy. “Mers have a high affinity for healing jutsu.”   
“And their chakra is basically entirely nature chakra, so they can heal a lot easier and do more water jutsu than most people,” Umi agreed.   
Anmari smiled again, the sharp teeth no where in sight. “Shisui Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake,” she greeted.   
“Anmari,” Shisui replied. “You’re partnered with Rogan, right?”   
Anmari nodded, smiling. “That’s right. I assume you’ve met him?”   
Shisui nodded. “So, everyone ready now?” The genin nodded obligingly, and Shisui grinned. “Let’s go then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annmarie, or Anmari, is from the same universe as the Emma that appeared in Lilo n Stitch, if you’re wondering. Yes, they know each other. Honestly, like everyone from that universe knows each other…   
> I like, honestly thought I was behind on updating on here, so boy was I relieved to see that this was caught up.


	11. Important

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important notice.

(A/N) While this seems a somewhat surprising decision, I assure you it is anything but unthought out. I am, I'm afraid, under a lot of stress. I'm sorry I took so long to inform you, but I will be taking the month of June off from updating. I will be back in July, back with properly scheduled updates. Again, I am terribly sorry, I know you were probably looking forward to some updates, but I feel like I need to do this. No, there won't be an update tonight. I am sorry, but will see you again in July. This has been posted on all my stories, I apologize for the sudden slew of emails if you follow me on Fanfiction.Net.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight! There is a bit of blood here, and y’know, Naruto, so death of idiot bandits. Also, my friend has warned me that I have done poorly explaining the elemental prosthetics and Shisui’s fire arm.

Naruto was pretty sad he couldn’t actually yell at the bandits to scare them, but got over it quickly enough.   
He ducked under a wild swing, and quickly dispatched the man. Nearby, Sasuke vaulted over a bandit, kicking the one behind him in the face on the way down, and embedding a kunai in the guy he’d vaulted over’s face.   
Naruto grinned and fist bumped him before brandishing a seal and spitting out a fireball. A shadow snaked in front of it, paralyzing those in its way, just as the fireball crashed through, burning those unlucky enough to be in its way.   
Shikamaru nodded to Naruto as Naruto ran past him to get some more people.   
Naruto glanced to the side, and found one half of the battle field flooded completely, both Anmari and Eidoko holding it back so only that side was flooded. Someone, probably Eidoko, had summoned a kraken, which was currently eating the people from that side, and brushing away their measly attacks like it was nothing. Which it probably was, to the 15 foot kraken.   
Yunikon fell in beside Sasuke, effortlessly swapping styles to match Sasuke, the pair working their way through a good chunk of the bandits.   
Shisui and Kakashi had gone for the leader, and were very clearly toying with him, Shisui flickering away just before the leader’s weapon hit him, and Kakashi reading his book and dodging absently. 

With the bandit camp demolished, the kraken unsummoned, and Umi and Anmari treating the few minor injuries they had sustained.   
Shisui, chipper as ever, shunshined over to them after Kakashi used an earth jutsu to eliminate the signs of the bandit camp. “That was fun! Did you guys sustain any major injuries?”   
A series of shaking heads later, Shisui plopped down next to them, still grinning. “Wonderful! This was a joint mission mostly because this camp is right on the border of Konoha and Uzushio, and because of the size of the camp.”   
‘You mentioned earlier that Semari-baa-chan and Jiji liked sending teams on joint missions around the chuunin exams?’ Naruto asked, letting Anmari bandage his leg where the cut was already healing.   
“Ah, yes. With the scare we had where Uzushio almost got destroyed, Hokage-sama and Semari-sama decided to have closer contact,” Shisui said. “More joint missions, travel and trade between the two villages, and such. Plus better communication.”   
“Although technically Mofu implanted the original agreement and Semari upholds it,” Eidoko said, blushing when the others looked at her. “I like history.”   
‘A good thing to know,’ Shikamaru agreed lazily. ‘So you don’t make the same mistakes again.’   
“Exactly,” Eidoko said, grinning.   
“That aside,” Shisui said, shaking his head, “The Chuunin Exams are in another month, and it is highly likely you six will be participating.”   
“Nice,” Yunikon said, grinning. “We get to see Konoha.”   
“Yay, I’ll be back in the village that almost killed me,” Shisui noted sarcastically.   
Sasuke patted his shoulder sympathetically.   
“You’ll be there as an Uzushio jounin, Danzo won’t be able to touch you for fear of losing Uzushio’s support,” Kakashi said, sitting down next to them. “We’re on thin enough ice as it is from your birth, Naruto.”   
Naruto frowned. ‘That was twelve years ago.’  
“Uzumaki can hold a grudge,” Umi said as an explanation.   
“I should be getting back,” Anmari said, standing up. “See you guys!” She disappeared in a puff of smoke, reverse summoning herself back to her own dimension.   
Umi checked the sun. “Ah, it’s almost dinner time. That explains the sudden leaving.”   
Everyone else checked the sun too.   
“Well, why don’t we stay here for the night?” Shisui suggested. “The area is already cleared and stuff, and given the large camp of bandits that had previously been here, we’re highly unlikely to be disturbed.”   
“Works for me,” Kakashi said, shrugging. “Naruto, Shikamaru, I’m sure you can find food?”   
They nodded, Shikamaru more reluctantly than Naruto, and disappeared into the surrounding forest to locate some meat.   
“Sasuke, tents, if you don't mind.”   
Sasuke nodded, chasing after his teammates to grab their packed scrolls, which they had forgotten to leave behind.   
“I trust you guys know how to set up camp,” Shisui told his genin, amusement lacing his tone.   
“Yep,” they agreed, splitting off to their own tasks.   
“You have them trained well,” Kakashi said, plopping down and leaning against a nearby log.   
“Uzushio genin tend to be less rowdy than Konoha genin. Well, maybe that’s the wrong term for it.” Shisui shrugged. “They’re better at listening, there we go.”   
“Konoha genin listen fine,” Kakashi disagreed.  
“I was a Konoha genin,” Shisui pointed out. “I remember a lot of arguing. Uzushio at least tries to put kids that won’t kill each other on the same team.” 

Within no time camp was all set up, and fish were nicely cooking over the fire.   
‘So were you born blind?’ Naruto signed to Yunikon.   
Yunikon shrugged. “I was born blind, but it was because of a disease of some sort during the pregnancy.”   
“Not very common,” Umi agreed, “but happens enough that we can usually treat it before it gets too far. I think we’re still working on a vaccine to prevent it completely. I wouldn’t know though, I’m not a high enough rank to be involved in any specific projects.”   
‘Shisui-sensei,’ Sasuke signed, tapping on said jounin’s right shoulder.   
“Hm?” Shisui asked, turning to his cousin.   
‘What is with your arm?’ Sasuke asked bluntly, gesturing to Shisui’s fire arm.   
Shisui glanced at it. “Well, my arm kind of got torn off during my fall, so after Orochimaru dragged my comatose body to Shizune, we went to Uzushio, and they got me this.” He waved his arm.   
‘How does it work?’ Naruto signed, distracted from his conversation.   
“I’m not quite sure, I’m no seal master. Ask Umi.”   
Naruto turned expectantly to Umi.   
“Well, it’s a fairly complex series of seals, but essentially the arm is made of fire natured nature chakra. It draws power from the very air, using it to power itself so it doesn’t draw on the user’s chakra. It means they’re able to be used by anyone, civvie or ninja.”   
“That’s interesting,” Kakashi noted blandly. “Do civvies actually use them?”   
“Yeah! We got quite a few fishermen who do,” Umi said, nodded. “They mostly lost limbs to sharks or barracudas or something.”  
“What is it with Uzushio and barracudas?” Kakashi asked mildly. “Kushina would blame everything on barracudas, even if it was impossible.”   
The Uzu genin shrugged. “It’s just a thing.” Yunikon said.   
“A very old thing,” Eidoko agreed. “We have records of it almost to the beginning of Uzushio itself. No one’s quite sure who started it.”   
“We suspect it was the Uzumaki though,” Yunikon said, grinning. “The Uzuki insist it couldn’t have possibly been them.”   
“They’re more likely to swear by their instruments anyway,” Shisui laughed.   
“Sun’s going down,” Kakashi noted. “Who wants first watch?”   
‘I can,’ Naruto signed. ‘I’m not very tired.’   
“While we did clear out the bandits here, we should still double up on rotations, so which of my guppies wants to be up as well?” Shisui said, eyeing the surrounding woods.   
“I can,” Umi said, shrugging.   
“Wake the next pair in three hours,” Shisui instructed.   
“I should be in the last watch,” Yunikon said. “I can’t see well in low light. The glasses don’t work the best during the night.”   
‘I’ll be middle watch,’ Shikamaru signed reluctantly. ‘Shadows are most effective at night.’   
“With that worked out, get some sleep, we have traveling to do in the morning,” Kakashi muttered, disappearing into his tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chuunin exams are next! It will certainly be an adventure. After all, Uzushio is here this time.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! I have finally learned how formatting works on Ao3! I can format now! Sorry about all previous chapters. It will be better now! Chuunin Exams! Well, the start of them. We’re starting with Team Gai. Mostly getting to know other people here. Meeting the relevant teams and such. I don’t remember if I said this, but different villages have their own Shinobi Sign languages, while there is a universal civilian sign language.

Neji stared at the Rookie nine. Sure, he knew Kakashi’s team was quiet, and why, but this was ridiculous. All nine of the rookies were silently watching him. He would’ve thought that at least the Inuzuka would be loud, Inuzuka were notorious for it. The pink-haired one and the Inuzuka looked both irritated and resigned, and Neji briefly wondered why. 

“This is almost creepy, an entire graduation class of silent kids? What is wrong with your year?” Tenten asked, confusion written across her face. 

“So unyouthful!” Lee exclaimed. 

The Aburame adjusted his glasses, and if Neji didn’t know better, he would’ve said the Aburame was smirking. “We are a very quiet graduating class, true, but there is a reason behind it. Why? Because Naruto and Sasuke are mute, Shikamaru believes it too troublesome to speak, Team 8 is very shy, and my teammates have been silenced.” 

Neji raised an eyebrow. “Silenced?” 

The blond kid made a series of hand seals, and the Nara sighed, apparently translating. “Naruto asks if you really believed an Inuzuka was that quiet naturally.” 

Neji raised the other eyebrow. “Of course not. Kami forbid there ever be a quiet Inuzuka.”

Now the Inuzuka just looked offended, making a series of hand signs himself. 

Shino translated. “Kiba wishes to inform you that there are quiet Inuzuka, thank you very much. And he informs you that no, he is not one of them, disproving his earlier statement.” 

Lee frowned at Shino. “It is not very youthful to degrade your teammates.” 

Naruto sweatdropped and made some more signs, prompting the Nara to translate again. 

“Naruto says that he really doesn’t care if it’s unyouthful, because it’s true,” Shikamaru sighed, yawning. 

Lee moved his disapproving frown to Shikamaru and Naruto. “That is not very youthful,” he scolded. 

Sasuke sighed, stepping between them, and signing something. 

Shikamaru reluctantly translated. “Sasuke says that you need to calm down Lee, and ignore the unyouthfulness of the people here.”

Lee nodded, only slightly reluctantly. “I will endeavor to do that, Sasuke-san, if not, I will run around Konoha 20 times on my hands in under 20 minutes! If I fail to do that-” Neji cut off Lee’s speaking, and dragged him away, Tenten following with only a hesitant glance back at them. 

They met a pair of Suna nin next. Well, except Team 8, which had gone to get a pep talk from their sensei. 

‘Oi! Let Konohamaru down! He’s the Hokage’s Grandson ya know!’ Naruto signed, glaring at the one with purple makeup. 

The purple makeup dude blinked at him. “Huh?”

“Naruto says to put Konohamaru, who is the Hokage’s grandson, down,” Shikamaru drawled reluctantly. 

“What are you, mute?” Purple makeup dude sneered. 

Naruto gave him a flat look and started signing expletives at him. 

“I’m not translating that,” Shikamaru sighed. 

Shino shook his head. “Agreed. Why? Because that is a very long string of expletives, and I see no reason for them.” 

The girl raised an eyebrow. “If my memory of Suna’s SSL is accurate, and our sign languages are close enough, I would agree. Also, Kankuro, drop the kid, and shut up before I hit you with my fan.” 

Kankuro wisely dropped the kid. 

“Kankuro,” a dry voice droned. “You’re embarrassing us.” 

“G-gaara!” Kankuro said, taking a slight step backwards. 

Shikamaru eyed the interaction with interest. As far as he could tell, Gaara was younger than the two, and yet they seemed afraid of him. 

Naruto started poking him in the arm, so he looked at his teammate. “What.” 

‘The Uzushio teams should be arriving soon,’ he signed, glancing towards the front gate. 

Shikamaru nodded reluctantly. “Fine. If you don’t mind, we have people we’d actually like to greet. Perhaps we’ll see you in the first challenge.” 

Temari inclined her head politely, and the two teams moved past the sand team. 

“Hey team 7!” Eidoko shouted to them as they approached, waving cheerfully. “I’m afraid I don’t know the rest of you.” 

“Shino Aburame,” Shino replied, making the hand sign to deactivate the silencing seals. 

“Hi!” Sakura chirped, smiling. “I’m Sakura Haruno, and these two are my teammates.” 

Akamaru barked from Kiba’s head. “I’m Kiba, and that’s Akamaru. You’re from Uzushio, right? You smell like salt.” 

“You can’t just tell people they smell!” Sakura screeched, whacking Kiba’s back. 

“Ow!” He complained. 

Shino gave the three Uzu teams that had stayed to chat a stiff little smile. “Excuse them.” 

Umi snickered. “It’s fine. I’m Umihebiro, but Umi’s fine. These are my teammates Eidoko and Yunikon. Shisui’s our sensei.” She gestured back to where the three jounin were chatting. “The black haired one.”

He noticed them staring, and waved with his fire arm. They waved back. 

“What’s up with his arm?” Sakura asked after a moment. 

“He lost it,” Yunikon stated dryly. “That’s a prosthetic. Did you not learn about it in school?” 

Sakura paused for a moment, then turned red. “Ah, yes, yes we did.” 

Everyone broke into laughter for a while. 

“That aside,” one of the other genin, a slightly older one said, flicking a stray strand of red hair aside. “I’m Hirata, and these are my teammates Kamisori and Fuji.” 

One with wine red hair waved, and one with a massive scroll strapped to their back waved as well. 

“We’re Katsu’s students,” Kamisori said, jerking a thumb at the jounin-sensei. “The bright red haired one.” 

“And we’re Hoshiko’s guppies,” an androgynous genin said, shrugging. “I’m Jinbei, and those two are Miyo and Tamako.” 

“I’m Shikamaru Nara,” Shikamaru yawned. “My teammates are Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.” 

“We’ve heard,” Miyo said, smirking. “Those three wouldn’t stop talking about it.” 

Eidoko frowned at Miyo. “Hey, that was one time.” 

“Four hours,” Tamako said, and that quickly shut them up, each looking away in apparent embarrassment. 

Naruto broke down into silent giggles. 

“Get out of the way.” 

Shikamaru eyed the newcomers, even as they moved to the sides. Kiri. They looked a bit tall to be genin, but who was he to judge their choices. He would keep an eye on them however, each was armed to the teeth, although Shikamaru didn’t really expect anything else. 

They were still silent long after the Kiri teams had all passed. 

“Is it just me or were they far too old to be genin,” Miyo noted. “Especially in a place like Kiri. Konoha may have it’s occasional eternal genin, but I doubt a place like Kiri does.” 

“No kidding.” Fuji noted. “Wasn’t that one of the seven swords?” 

“Yeah,” Sakura agreed quietly. “That was. Why did they let one of the seven swords out of the village attached to the back of a genin.” 

That was a good point. Why did they give it to a supposed genin? There had to be more to this. 

“Yeah, kinda fishy,” Yunikon said, yawning. “If you don’t mind, we may want to get food, then turn in for the night. The first exam is in two days.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First exam next time! Anyone wanna guess what’s gonna happen? By the way, there were more genin teams then the three introduced, I just didn’t need to introduce them for reasons. Also I didn’t want to make up that many names. Too troublesome, to quote a Nara. Also, if I need to add tags, please feel free to tell me. I am terrible at tagging, and have no clue what I'm doing.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First exam, possibly some of the second! Do any of you particularly care about seeing the Uzushio genin’s pov in the second round? Stuff is happening with them, although not technically necessary to see, it’d likely be a bit more exciting than just explaining what happened later. 

“That’s a genjutsu,” Shikamaru whispered into Naruto’s ear. 

Naruto eyed the sign in question, then the ‘guards’. Huh, they looked like those two gate guards. Kotetsu and Izumo. ‘I think I recognize the two guards, they’re the ones always at the gate.’

‘You’re right,’ Sasuke realized. ‘I recognize them too.’

Naruto watched an Uzushio genin look out a window doubtfully, then start snickering quietly. ‘Maybe we don’t even need to realize that’s a genjutsu, just know that we’ve only gone up one set of stairs.’ 

Shikamaru sighed, heading for the stairwell. “Come on, let’s go. We have a test to get to.”

‘Yeah, we’ll have to see who makes it past,’ Sasuke agreed, not bothering to look back at the idiots crowded around the genjutsu. 

Naruto shrugged, following his teammates up to the actual third floor, and into the room for the first test. 

The other two teams from their class were there already, as was team Gai, which were easily recognizable from the multiple times Kakashi had pointed them out running around the village. Plus the bright green was hard to miss. 

Shino noticed them first, and nodded congenially to them as he walked over, his teammates not seeming to notice his disappearance, arguing quietly. 

‘Hey Shino!’ Naruto signed, smiling. 

Shino inclined his head. “Greetings to you as well. I trust you have been well?” 

“Shino,” Shikamaru yawned. “You saw us yesterday.” 

A barely noticeable smirk crossed Shino’s face. “Indeed.” 

“Listen up maggots!” Ibiki bellowed from the front of the room. “Sit your butts down in the seats assigned to you and shut up!” 

Naruto grinned cheekily, signing as he made his way to the seat he saw with his name on it. ‘I’m already shut up! Can’t stop me now!’ 

Ibiki glared at him, and Naruto just grinned. Ibiki couldn’t do a thing!

He pretended he could hum as he sat down in his seat, eyeing the paper test apprehensively. He would regret this Chuunin Exams soon, wouldn’t he. 

“You have 10 points at the beginning of this! Anytime you’re caught cheating will take two points off.” 

Oh so he could cheat, he could work with that. This would be fun. Both to cheat himself, and to see what others would get away with. 

Naruto flipped over the test on the signal, and scanned the paper. Oh look, a question on Uzushiogakure, Naruto bet that every Uzushio genin in here could answer it. 

The question? ‘What is Uzushio’s primary defense mechanism?’ 

There were three different correct answers to the question. First, It’s jounin and fleets, was a perfectly fine answer, given that their jounin and their fleets were the primary line of defense in case of an attack. 

The second answer was it’s looping seals. An intricate set of seals that made a scrolling effect, so if you didn’t have the proper authorization, you walked into the set of seals, space and time bended, and you walked out on the other side, completely unaware you had just walked right past Uzushio. Also a valid answer, considering it was one of the best ways that Uzushio hid itself. It was better hidden than all of the four great nations. Or were there five? Naruto honestly couldn’t remember. 

The third answer was something that only the Uzushio genin would probably know. Plus a few Konoha genin. The set of seals that let Uzushio sink into the ocean enough so it’s tallest building, the kage’s towers and mission center, was a good four feet under water. As far as Naruto knew, it had been used once, and that was when Uzushio was attacked. 

Suddenly he wondered which answer was on the thingies they were supposed to cheat from? 

Well, he clearly had to figure it out. Naruto scribbled a cloaking seal onto a corner of his paper, tore it off sneakily, and made the hand seal to make a clone under the table. 

He deliberately slowed the making of the clone under the table long enough to shove the corner of paper into its forming body. Once the clone was complete, it was completely camouflaged. It snuck away to view other papers, and Naruto pretended to be struggling over the paper. 

Well, he was, kinda. Mostly struggling over which answer to put for the Uzushio question. And wondering about the other questions which were mostly like, weird math problems that made no sense. Shikamaru could probably solve them, but he could solve everything. 

His clone popped halfway through the test, and Naruto got his answer. The first answer was the only one on any papers, although they each had a note in the corner about there being multiple answers. Not giving anything away while giving the people who know about the other two answers a chance to show that. 

So he just wrote down all of the answers, squishing it all in to make sure it fit. 

Ten minutes from the end, Ibiki started shouting again, startling most of the kids in the room. “The tenth and final question will be given out now! You may decide whether to take it or not, and if you choose not to, you will immediately be removed from the exam. You will be able to take it next year, however.” 

The classroom erupted in outrage, and Shikamaru sat back and smirked. Ibiki was playing at something. He was planning something, likely a test to get a good section of people in here out of the exam. 

“However,” Ibiki said, pausing dramatically. “If you get the question wrong, you will be banned from ever taking the exam again.” 

More outrage, and Ibiki slammed his hand down on the table to silence them. 

Shikamaru merely watched on in interest, as the special jounin took off his headband to show off the myriad of scars covering his bald head. Not unreasonable, given his specialty, torture and interrogation, although perhaps a bit excessive to scare a bunch of genin. 

Even if it was clear his team and the Uzushio genin weren’t affected by it. The other genin in their class looked mildly disturbed at the most, and Shikamaru took that to mean they wouldn’t back out. 

People started dropping like flies, proverbially, of course, leaving the room in droves. Huh, he hadn’t thought the threat was that scary, after all, Ibiki couldn’t stop a direct promotion. Or any other Kage from promoting their genin. 

It was probably good all those people were weeded out anyway, they weren’t fit to be chuunin, where they’d be faced with far harder issues. 

...And there was Anko, presumably for the second test. Was she supposed to intimidate them? Or maybe creep them out? That seemed more likely. 

Shikamaru eyed a genin who was eyeing his teammate. He had silver hair, and wasn’t even paying attention. Which, frankly, was probably his problem, not Shikamaru’s. Although to be fair, Shikamaru wasn’t paying all that much attention himself. He got the gist anyway. Two scrolls, you have one, and you want to collect the others. 

While Anko prattled on, attempting(and succeeding in a few cases) to intimidate or scare the genin, Shikamaru watched the competition. 

It wasn’t too much, a few Kiri teams which Shikamaru made a mental note to keep an eye on, they looked a bit too old to just be genin, especially in the so called Bloody Mist. 

There was a sound team, who didn’t look too intimidating, standing with slouched posture and terrible stances. 

The Uzushio teams were mostly teenagers, the oldest being maybe three years older than Shikamaru. 

Shikamaru caught one of the older Kiri teams eyeing one of the Uzushio teams, and frowned. There was something off here. 

He edged towards where Yunikon was standing, and mumbled under his breath to the other teen. “Partner with our team? I don’t trust the Kiri.” 

Yunikon glanced at him, then nodded once, whispering something to Eidoko, who wandered off to the other two teams they’d talked to before the exam. “Alright. We’ll stay with you. Don’t be too slow.” 

Shikamaru scoffed quietly, moving back to where his team was standing. 

‘We’re pairing up with Shisui’s team,’ he signed with his back to almost everyone else. ‘I don’t trust the Kiri, they’re too old, and eyeing the Uzushio teams weirdly.’

‘We can’t warn everyone,’ Naruto fretted. 

‘This is an exam,’ Shikamaru replied ruthlessly. ‘Less unfriendly competition to deal with the better.’ 

‘I guess,’ Naruto signed, frowning. 

“Ready?!” Anko shouted, having apparently finished her shouting. “Begin!” 

And thus began the second round of the Chuunin exams. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right! So do you want to see what the heck I’m doing with Kiri and the Uzushio teams? It’s important, of course, although can be told through less interesting means. Most of the Uzu genin cheated through judicious use of seals, FYI.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second Exam! For the record, I wrote this chapter and the next one at the same time. It doesnt have any effect on the plot really, but I did. I figured that since they were going on at the same time, might as well get two birds with one stone.

“Was it just me or were the Kiri teams glaring at us?” Yunikon asked once they were in the forest and away from other teams. 

‘No, they were glaring at you,’ Naruto signed. 

“I’m not sure why, but yeah they were glaring at us,” Eidoko sighed. “Any of you have any ideas?” 

Shikamaru yawned. ‘They didn’t look like genin. Maybe they’re here to eliminate the Uzushio genin.” 

“It has happened in the past,” Umi said, shrugging. “Mom was taken out by Kiri ‘genin’” she made air quotes as she spoke, “in her first chuunin exams. Mentioned that they were too skilled to be genin, even Uzushio level genin.” 

‘Does that happen a lot?’ Sasuke asked suspiciously. 

Eidoko shrugged. “Mist has been very salty ever since the raids we made as retribution after they attacked us in that attempt to wipe out Uzushio. So yeah, it happens any time both of us are in one chuunin exam at the same time. They are really salty, let me tell you.” 

‘I believe it,’ Naruto signed. 

“Really, they should be grateful,” Eidoko said, huffing and crossing her arms. “We only stole two of their islands. We could have stolen a lot more, and I dunno, replaced Kiri as a great nation?” 

‘That would have been amusing,’ Naruto agreed. 

‘Political fallout probably would have been horrid though,’ Sasuke pointed out. ‘But I guess they wouldn’t really be able to do anything, wasn’t that the time you put the scrolling thing into effect?’

“Yeah, actually. We brought the islands in, then put it into effect as soon as we put the seals down on our new islands.” Umi said. “It was a pretty quick process.” 

“Wait what scroll do you guys have? We have wind.” Eidoko asked quickly. 

‘Wind,’ Naruto signed, patting his pocket. 

‘We’ll need two earths to pass,’ Shikamaru signed, rather redundantly. “Either we ambush teams now, or wait a day or two until others have fought and risk not getting a scroll.”

“We should do it now,” Yunikon said. “They may not be tired like in later days, but this way we have a better chance of getting the scrolls we need.” 

Shikamaru conceded the point. “Naruto, you’ve been working on something for weeks, what is it?” 

Naruto blushed, fiddling with his fingers before actually signing. ‘Sensing, but I’m not very good at it yet.’ 

“What can you do?” Umi asked curiously. 

Naruto shrugged. ‘I can find big things? Might be able to find the general area of a team or two.’ 

‘Should work fine, we’ll just have to hunt down the teams,’ Sasuke signed, narrowing his eyes at the surrounding forest. 

‘I have to sit and concentrate to find anything,’ Naruto warned. 

‘Let’s get into the trees. For shinobi, people forget to look up all too often.’ Shikamaru signed, sighing. 

“They do?” Eidoko asked, wrinkling her nose. “I mean, I guess we don’t have trees like these in Uzushio, at least not enough to jump through, but if there’s a prank, always look up.” 

‘My cousin can tell you that no one bothers looking up 95% of the time,’ Sasuke raised a hand. ‘Besides, the branches in this forest should be plenty wide and the leaves plenty thick to hide us even if someone does look up.’ 

Yunikon crouched slightly before springing up, grabbing onto a treebranch, and swinging up to land on top of it. He peered over the side to stare impatiently at them. “Coming?” 

Naruto and Sasuke quickly jumped up, followed by the other two Uzushio genin. Shikamaru sighed long sufferingly but followed. 

Naruto sat down at the base of the branch, closing his eyes and making the sign to mold chakra. Shikamaru swapped branches for a different one and looked like he’d fallen asleep against the trunk of the tree. The other four settled down to wait, keeping an eye and an ear out for anyone else they could ambush. Or that was trying to ambush them, which was fairly unlikely, but still possible. 

Naruto jumped up a while later, throwing his hands skyward in victory. ‘Found someone!’ He signed happily. 

“Yeah? Where?” Umi asked curiously. 

He pointed off to his left, in the direction they were heading. ‘Not too big signatures, not the Kiri, if Shikamaru’s thing about them being jounin is correct.’

“So we should take them fine,” Eidoko said, glancing where Naruto had pointed. “Let’s go!” 

Yunikon sighed, adjusting his glasses. “I guess we’ll plan when we get there.” 

‘Well I dunno where exactly the people are, or what they’re doing, so we’re gonna have to do that anyway.’ Naruto pointed out. ‘Someone wake up Shikamaru?’

Shikamaru yawned just then, standing up. ‘I’m awake just fine, thanks.’

“It’s like he knew we were going to splash him with a water jutsu if he wasn’t,” Eidoko whispered to Umi, clearly intending for Shikamaru to hear it. He glared at the girls. They grinned innocently. 

Naruto took a running leap, jumping to the next tree. He turned back to sigh ‘hurry up!’ at them, before continuing onward. 

“They weren’t moving around, right Naruto?” Yunikon called up, leaping after the other genin. 

His headshake was clear enough through the leaves with his bright blond hair, and Yunikon hummed to show he’d seen the gesture. 

The other team was clearly set up to ambush a team on the ground, so they paired off to ambush the team themselves. The ambushers getting ambushed. What fun. 

Yunikon was paired off with Shikamaru, the Nara paralyzing their target as Yunikon jumped out at him from a tree. And boy was the expression on the Ame nin’s face priceless as he spotted an Uzushio genin jumping out of a tree to land on him. 

He pinned the other genin to the ground, Shikamaru’s shadow releasing him to Yunikon’s mercy. He promptly strung him up on a tree branch with some ninja wire and a seal. 

“Who has the scroll in your team?” Yunikon asked cooly, staring right at the ninja. 

The teammate with the scroll was ratted out instantly, so Yunikon took mercy on him and knocked him out. 

He headed for the other two, Shikamaru trailing lazily behind. 

“We got the scroll!” Eidoko said cheerfully, waving it at them. “And it’s an earth! Now we just have to find one more!” 

“Let’s get closer to the tower before we hunt anyone else down,” Yunikon advised. “Then we can grab it and enter the tower straight away.” 

‘Sounds good to me,’ Sasuke signed. ‘Maybe the next one will be this easy.’ He kicked his fallen enemy to prove a point. They didn’t move. He nodded in satisfaction. 

‘We can’t be too cocky though,’ Naruto pointed out, glancing around the forest. ‘Not with the Kiri teams here.’ 

“He’s right,” Yunikon agreed. “It could get us killed. Let’s hurry and get close to the tower before hunting down or waiting for a team to wander nearby.”

They got almost three-fourths of the way before they were ambushed by canon fodder supposed-genin from Kiri. 

They didn’t speak, just rushing at them and knocking them out of the trees. 

Yunikon landed hard, probably twisting his ankle slightly. He winced as he stood up, not really wanting to put weight on the hurting ankle. Was definitely twisted at least a bit, if not sprained. He’d have to get Umi to look at it afterward. Once they weren’t under attack. 

At least the Kiri nin were taking the time to dramatically stand above them and laugh. Meant Yunikon had a bit of time to plan. Eidoko couldn’t do any of the big things she knew, those were all designed for open ocean or somewhere that wasn’t full of trees. Umi was slightly better off, but was their medic. He was hindered somewhat by the leg, but he would survive and use a style that allowed him to not but too much stress on it. 

Finally the Kiri nin deigned to remember them, and lunged. They leaped straight for his teammates. Yunikon wondered briefly why they were targeting only his team, before being engaged in combat. 

The other nin was more skilled then Yunikon by a long shot, although was outclassed in taijutsu by a long shot. 

Unfortunately, the other nin was incorporating ninjutsu into the fight in a truly infuriating way. Yunikon had yet to land a proper hit, too busy dodging water bullets and such to get in close enough. He hadn’t managed to learn a weapon yet, so now he moved it up his mental list of priorities. 

The others seemed to be faring fine, Yunikon decided as he was thrown into a tree, probably cracking a few ribs. That was good. 

A shadow connected with his and his ankle glowed slightly with the healing. Impressively, Yunikon could still move, throwing himself to the side to avoid a water bullet. 

His ribs healed soon afterward, and the shadow went for the Kiri nin, not giving away it’s owner’s position. Yunikon did his best to distract the man from the shadow linking to his shadow and using it as a new focal point to reach even farther. He was faster with his ankle fixed, better able to dodge, and go for the man’s personal space. 

He managed to get into easy range of one of his styles. He dove around the man to get behind him, sweeping his legs out from under him in one smooth motion. 

The shadow lunged off the ground, tying the man to the ground. Yunikon successfully fished out a weight seal, slapping it on the man, effectively pinning him there while Yunikon knocked him out. 

He glanced over, finding the others knocking out their own enemies, tying them up. 

Shikamaru retracted his shadow, and Yunikon went to work, stringing the man up in a tree like he had for the Ame nin. 

“Oh hey they even have the scroll we need,” Umi commented. “And four others. We’re all good.” 

“Let’s get to the tower then,” Shikamaru drawled. “I want a nap.” 

‘Of course, you do.’ Sasuke signed, sighing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Naruto has added sensing to his repertoire. The third round is not next time, But instead, we’re following the other two teams we met around the forest. They have their own messy interactions. Did you like the nod to U4GN? Or even notice it? I was looking at my chapter plans and realized. Usually, my Chuunin exams are like 6 chapters, maybe 7. This one will come in at a whopping 14. Probably. Might be more. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Uzushio teams! The kids were the ones who decided they wanted to see the tigers and stuff, so blame them for the impromptu lesson on what can be found in the forest of death.

“It’s just a suspicion of course,” Eidoko explained, waving her hands. “But I’d keep a lookout all the same.” 

“Thanks for the warning Eidoko,” Tamako said, nodding to her. “We’ll keep an eye on them.”

“Well, I will,” Jinbei said, shrugging. “I am the sensor here.” 

“Did you tell Katsu’s team?” Miyo asked curiously. 

Eidoko nodded. “Well, I have to get back to mine. Good luck!” 

“You too.” Tamako nodded to Eidoko as she left. “Should we ask Katsu’s team to team up?” 

“It would probably be in both our best interests,” Jinbei agreed, nodding their head to where the other team was heading toward them. “And I believe they have the same idea.” 

“Hey Hoshiko’s team,” Hirata said, waving. “You got the same warning I assume?” 

“About the Kiri teams? Yeah.” Tamako agreed, shaking her head. “You came over to team up?” 

“It would be in both our best interests,” Hirata agreed. 

“What scroll did you get?” Fuji asked, tilting their head. “We have wind.” 

“Earth,” Miyo replied. 

“Well, if all else fails, we have the scrolls for one team to pass,” Kamisori commented. “We’ll just have to collect one more set.” 

“Shouldn’t be overly hard,” Jinbei said, straightening their shirt. “Let’s go, we have a Forest of Death to see.”

“And an exam to pass,” Tamako eyed a Kiri team that was getting too close as they got ready to enter the forest, and they backed off quickly. 

“But mostly the forest,” Hirata joked. 

“Do you think we’ll see any of those tigers mom keeps talking about?” Miyo wondered as they walked into the forest. “Hey Jinbei, do you think they have enough chakra for you to sense them?” 

“If they do, I may not be able to tell them apart from other genin without sitting down and concentrating,” Jinbei warned, pulling their hand up into a molding chakra sign as the two groups walked into the forest. Uzushio sensors focused on getting mobile first, then adding precision later. 

“You’re good dude,” Kamisori said, pulling out his trumpet. “I just barely learned how to tree walk while playing this like two days before we left for the chuunin exams.” They pulled the trumpet up to their mouths and ran through a couple of scales. 

“Don’t attract the whole forest,” Miyo said teasingly. 

Kamisori puffed up. “I’ll have you know that my trumpet sound is always used for hiding its own noise, I just let you guys hear.” 

“Sure,” Fuji said, toying with one of the scrolls on their belt. “Could use you as bait though, we do need two more scrolls.” 

Kamisori gasped, hand on their heart. “Your own teammate! How could you!” 

“Dunno, but don’t think it was that hard,” Hirata said, nudging Kamisori. “Especially considering the amount of times you’ve woken him up by blasting that trumpet in his ear.” 

“Yeah, well, he threw kunai and all sorts of pointy weapons at me right after, so we’re totally even!” 

“But did they hit you,” Miyo asked. “That’s the important question.” 

“A lot in the beginning,” Kamisori admitted. “But I’m getting better at not being hit.” 

“At least two weapons hit him on a regular basis,” Fuji added quickly. “More if I wait approximately twenty seconds to give him a false sense of security. Then they usually get hit pretty quickly.” 

“Hey!” Kamisori complained. 

“Don’t worry,” Tamako said patting his shoulder. “As long as you don’t wake me up by blaring a trumpet in my ear, you won’t be on the receiving end of my chains.” 

They stared at her. “You have the chains kekkei genkai? When were you going to tell us?” 

“Hey, I learned I had it the same time you figured out how to tree walk while playing,” Tamako returned, shaking her finger at Kamisori. “So don’t you even try.” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Kamisori said, holding his hands up. 

“Right, so I located either a bunch of genin, or a pack of wolves,” Jinbei said, scratching their head. “I can’t tell honestly, it’s on the edge of my range though, which admittedly is only like two miles across.” 

“Let’s go see,” Miyo suggested. “What way are they?” 

Jinbei pointed off to their left. “Just go straight that way, they’re heading towards us.” 

“We should take to the trees,” Hirata said quickly. “And higher then we normally would. Just in case. We should try and take whatever it is by surprise.” 

“She has a point,” Fuji leapt up into the trees as they spoke, crouching to look down at their teammates. “Let’s go.” 

“Onward!” Kamisori cheered, hopping up into the trees as well, the others following them swiftly. 

“Yeah that’s a pack of wolves,” Miyo said as they crouched above the pack. “Are they eating a deer or is that deer eating them?” 

“Y’know, I really can’t tell,” Tamako said, frowning down at the animals, a finger tapping her chin. “Possibly both. That deer just took a chunk out of that wolf.” 

“And didn’t spit it out, eww,” Kamisori agreed. “And down goes the deer.” 

“Why does Konoha have carnivorous deer?” Fuji asked, rubbing the bridge of their nose. 

“Same reason it has carnivorous giant slugs,” Jinbei sighed. “They’re at the edges of the pack if anyone’s curious.” 

“Eww,” Kamisori said again. “They’re huge! And so slimy!” 

“That is kind of how slugs are,” Miyo pointed out. 

“Calling them slimy is kind of like calling a fish wet,” Hirata agreed, laughing. “They’re both stupidly correct and you don’t need to say it for it to be true. Or obvious.” 

“Rude,” Kamisori huffed. 

“The day you get to legit call someone rude and we’ll actually agree is the day you stop blasting your trumpet in people’s ears,” Tamako said, laughing. “Oh hey look at that, the deer is mostly eaten and now the slugs and wolves are trying to eat each other.” 

“Let’s head out” Miyo said, turning away from the mess. “We still have to collect two scrolls.” 

“And see a giant tiger,” Kamisori agreed quickly. 

“And see a giant tiger,” Miyo sighed. 

“Yes!” Kamisori cheered, pumping their fist. “We’re gonna see a giant tiger! I bet it’ll be awesome.” 

“It’s a giant tiger,” Fuji pointed out reasonably. “Why wouldn’t it be very cool.” 

“Not just cool! Awesome!” Kamisori corrected quickly. 

Fuji just rolled their eyes in sync with the rest of the group aside from Jinbei who clearly hadn’t been paying attention to anything, their hand in the molding chakra sign. 

They were ambushed almost twenty minutes later. 

“Kiri nin!” Miyo warned, clapping her hands together to send a gust of wind at the bastards. “Jinbei, you didn’t catch them?” 

“They were suppressing their chakra well enough I couldn’t sense them!” Jinbei shouted back, retreating behind the others. Fuji pulled out two of their scrolls, leaping for one of the Kiri nin, weapons flying. 

Miyo and Hirata went after the leader, who attempted to drown them. 

“You get a genjutsu running, I’ll distract him?” Miyo whispered to Hirata. 

“Go nuts,” Hirata replied quickly, hands weaving together to make a genjutsu. 

Miyo drew from the water the nin had created, summoning up a water dragon, followed by a couple water bullets. 

Almost twenty seconds later, she felt a layer of chakra surround the area and quickly returned to Hirata’s side, watching the man claw at his own skin. 

“So which one was that,” Miyo asked. 

“The one where ants shove their way under his skin,” Hirata replied, grinning. 

Fuji and Jinbei were going for the second Kiri nin, Jinbei using what taijutsu he could, Fuji cornering the man with weapons and distracting him from Jinbei anytime the sensor faltered. 

“Jinbei, move!” Fuji shouted, grabbing the two scrolls on the back of their belt. 

Jinbei’s eyes widened and they dove behind Fuji, crouching behind a tree. 

Fuji grinned, and opened both scrolls, jumping into the air. “Kaboom.” Kunai with explosive tags flew, and the area turned into a fireball. 

Fuji landed a moment later, and smirked at his handiwork. The man was a crisp, and he was pretty sure anything in his pockets would still be intact. 

“Nice,” Jinbei muttered. 

“Crispy,” Fuji replied smugly. 

Kamisori attempted to get out an easy and fairly simple perception altering melody, but the bastard broke his trumpet before he could. Luckily Kamisori had another one for later, but right now, he couldn’t pull it out or use it. 

“Rude!” He shouted at the nin. “I liked that trumpet!” 

“Aren’t you due for an upgrade?” Tamako asked, chains erupting from her back and waving wildly before wrapping up the man. 

“Yeah but still!” Kamisori complained, drawing a kunai to threaten the man with. “Who has your scrolls? We don’t particularly feel like rooting through three dead people’s bodies, so please tell.” 

The kiri nin did not look particularly impressed, so the chains reached up and snapped his neck. 

“Check their pockets I guess,” Miyo said, shrugging. “Fuji you’re getting your crispy one, I ain't touching him.” 

“Understandable,” Fuji said, turning to root through the crispy man’s pockets. 

“At least they have all the scrolls we need,” Kamisori said after a moment of searching through their man’s pockets and coming up with two scrolls. “We can just look for giant tigers now!” 

“You and your giant tigers,” Miyo sighed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you feel like knowing, Jinbei and Fuji don’t have a gender. They decided that themselves, so they don’t have a gender. Prefers they/them pronouns, clearly. They are my non-binary children, I’ve had them for a chapter and a half, but if anything happened to them I’d kill everyone in the room and then myself. Yes I’m being dramatic. My notes on them are seriously Jinbei Sensor Iyashino(No) and Fuji Weapons Difenda(Yes) in reference to their genders. Kamisori’s Demiboy for those who caught that, so he uses he/they pronouns. 
> 
> …I’m not apologizing for the paragraph.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Prelims! For the record, I’m sorry for only doing half of them then abandoning you for a month. This is head hopping a little bit, from person to person fighting in the matches. It is intentional, I assure you, and is so I don’t weasel my way out of describing the fights. This is fight practice. Except Naruto vs Lee. I do not wanna do that one. I am not going there. 

Neji stood proudly, passively noting the nations of those who’d passed. Four Konoha teams, including the entirety of the Rookie Nine, one Suna team, three Uzushio teams, and a single Kiri team with what looked like a seven swordsman on it. He recognized the sensei as Ao, who’d stolen a main branch Hyuuga’s eye, and still had it under the eyepatch. 

And would you look at that, he was up against one of the genin under that bloodline stealing bastard of a man. He wouldn’t feel bad taking out a few frustrations on the other genin. He didn’t look like all that much anyway. 

“It is your fate to loose this match,” Neji droned, fully ready to just pull his usual fate spiel and beat him into next week. 

“We’ll see about that!” The other genin, Neji’d forgotten his name already, pulled out two swords. Neji scoffed. He was more then fast enough to avoid the swords. 

They charged at each other. From long experience dealing with Tenten and all of her sharp pointy things, Neji dodged the sword strokes easily, taking his time when dealing out damage of his own, landing hits first on the tenketsu points in the center of the other genin’s body, then onto the outer points, along the arms and legs. 

He would make an example of this genin, not to mess with the Hyuuga clan. 

With one final hit on the torso of the other genin, he was down. Neji stood over the other genins unconscious body proudly as his win was announced. He won. As was expected. 

Choji was fairly nervous about fighting the genin from Suna, he didn’t know what he could do or what his skills were, but he supposed he’d go into most fights not knowing his opponent, or at least not very well in the cases he did recognize his opponent. 

The girls on his team, Hinata and Ino gave him a thumbs up, which he returned as he walked down. 

Choji, upon hearing the start, from the proctor, took a deep breath, and blew up, then rolled forward quickly. 

He crashed over the other genin, suffering only a small scratch to his torso. 

“You destroyed my puppet!” The other genin rose from the splinters, looking quite offended. 

“Don’t make it so easily breakable,” Choji said quickly before anxiety got the better of him. He wanted to die in a small hole as soon as he finished saying it. 

If possible, the other genin looked even more offended. 

Choji rolled towards him again, barely missing him. He could feel the world spinning slightly, although brushed it off as dizziness from using the jutsu. It’d happened before. He’d just have to work past it. 

He barreled at the genin a few more times, missing him each time. He stumbled after the final one, the world spinning. 

He crashed to the floor, unconscious. 

Miyo was somewhat vaguely aware of the existence of the timid Hyuuga heir, Uzushio knew of the Hyuuga incident that had happened so long ago, although she wasn’t particularly afraid of her. It was a bad matchup for the Hyuuga, mostly because Miyo was an Akai Arashi and specialized mostly in long distance jutsu. As long as she was smart and didn’t get into close range, she’d be fine. 

Even then, Miyo was fairly sure she could hold her own against the Hyuuga heiress. 

“You got this Miyo!” Jinbei said, waving their arm. 

She waved back as she hopped over the railing, too excited to bother with such thing as stairs. 

She faced down the other girl, standing tall and bringing her hands up to be ready for anything. 

The proctor called them to start, and Miyo started weaving the hand signs for a waterwall as the girl came for her. It went up just in time to intercept Hinata’s first strike while Miyo leaped back. 

Miyo wove hand signs for water bullets, spitting them out then following up with a quick wind Jutsu to speed them up and throw Hinata off balance. A good section of her water jutsu from here on out would require less chakra, due to the water around the arena. 

Hinata was now walking on water, and Miyo grinned from her spot on the wall. Looked like she didn’t have to worry about drowning her. 

Hinata tried to race for her again, but Miyo now had the advantage. She pushed some chakra into her legs and leaped for the ceiling. She grabbed one of the beams, hanging from it by one hand and weaving some one handed seals with the other. 

She heard brief impressed murmures, then started shooting more water bullets down at Hinata. It was unfortunately the only jutsu she had down with one handed seals. 

Hinata dodged most of them, but Miyo could tell she was starting to tire. 

Miyo fired off a few more, then swung up onto the top of the beam when Hinata paused to catch her breath. She wove hand seals for a water dragon, hoping beyond hope she had enough time to finish them all. She was working on getting it down below 44 seals, but it was very slow going. So she still had to do all 44 hand seals. 

Somehow, she completed the sequence, and the dragon rose from the water already on the floor, stealing some more of her chakra to make extra as well. 

Hinata attempted to dodge, although it didn’t work as the dragon smashed her against a wall then dissipated, leaving her unconscious. Miyo dropped down to the floor, landing easily on the few inches of water. 

“Miyo has won,” the proctor said as medic nin carted Hinata away on stretchers. 

Naruto glanced over as he and Lee were carted out on stretchers. He carefully extended a hand, and Lee bumped it with a tired smile. “Next time, Naruto-san. Next time.”

Naruto nodded firmly. Next time indeed. One of them would win, and he intended for it to be him. 

After the showing the first Uzu genin had made, Ino wasn’t the most optimistic about her chances. She’d heard about Eidoko from Naruto’s team of course, the entire so called Rookie 9 had, knew she probably had a similar skillset to Miyo, the genin that had gone earlier. Hinata had been very firmly defeated by her, and Ino wasn’t a fighter like Hinata was. 

On the other hand, Eidoko was very optimistic of her chances. “No offense Naruto, but I’m pretty sure I have this one in the bag.” 

“You’re an Uzushio genin,” Shisui said, smirking. “And one of mine at that. I would hope you do. Cause if you don’t that’s an insult to my teaching skills. And everyone else who taught you. Or a compliment to her teachers I guess, but I haven’t been keeping up with Konoha teaching methods.” 

“Of course you haven’t,” Umi said, patting his arm. “You’re dead.” 

“Are you ever going to stop teasing me about that?” Shisui asked rhetorically. 

“Nope!” Eidoko chirped, jumping over the railing. “Never ever!” 

Shisui huffed mock annoyed. “Rude. I thought you were nice genin.” 

“You’re the one who trained us,” Yunikon pointed out casually, probably hiding a smirk behind his hand. He sounded like he was. 

Eidoko chose to ignore her sensei and teammate, and focused on her opponent. A Yamanaka. Couldn’t stay still for long enough for the Yamanaka to complete her family jutsu. It’d be bad if she did. 

So Eidoko played avoidance, leaping onto the walls and ceiling to avoid the Yamanaka. She couldn’t do one handed seals yet, Miyo was a few months older than her and more advanced. She was close though. 

She settled for blowing Ino around a bunch, then hopping behind her to knock her out herself. She was more wind inclined anyway. 

Gaara shunshined to the floor, ignoring the water residue from the previous battles. He stood on top of the good two inches, watching his opponent stand in the water instead of on top. Their loss. 

His sand flowed from his gourd, and raced for the leaf nin standing opposite him. He would catch the nin, and he would crush him. 

...He couldn’t move. Gaara didn’t like this. 

“I forfeit. He’d kill me the second I released him,” the leaf nin said, raising his hands. Gaara growled, but was restrained by the match being over. Someone would die at his hand. He promised mother she would have her blood. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the first half of the preliminary fights! It will be November in a little bit, so I will not be posting during the month. Don’t worry though! I’ll recontinue posting in December. Choji got poisoned, for those who didn’t catch that. And yes, I skipped Lee and Naruto’s fight. Didn’t need to deal with that much enthusiastic yelling/signing. Also it was kinda long already. (Can you tell i wrote those fights out of the order they’re in right now?)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Miss me? Second half of the preliminary rounds begins now. For those who didn’t catch it, Gaara fought Shikamaru! And the proctor is still Hayate Gekko, although for those who remember, he doesn’t have the sickness anymore in this AU! Tell me if you remember why in the reviews/comments! The poll’ll be up for one more week! So vote while you still can! Guest: Thank you! I’m really glad you liked them! Bless the smols indeed!

Shino wasn’t sure how he felt about going up against one of the seven swords of the mist. The other mist genin already seen had been somewhat easily taken out by Neji, not like it was any sort of surprise, his insects could sense the Byakugan hidden under the eyepatch, and even without it Shino recognized the jounin as Ao of Kirigakure. 

**(For the record, I have no clue how Chojuro fights, and this handicapped me. So you get a skip to who won. Like the Naruto v Lee fight. Except I literally have no clue how to write this fight. Sorry? You got like, 6 other perfectly good fights, so excuse this one.)**

Honestly, Shino was content with how he did. He hadn’t won, the other genin had certainly been above his skill level, but he’d done well, made a good showing. He’d done all he could, and he was content with that. 

Tamako was familiar with the pink girl, Sakura, knew that she was loud and fairly enthusiastic, although not much besides that. She was inclined to think close-range fighter, just based on her attitude, making her and Kiba the close-range fighters while Shino provided long-range backup. The showing the Aburame had put on in the battle before this agreed with that assessment. 

The proctor called for them to begin, and Tamako raced for her opponent, Sakura bracing herself for the impact, only for nothing to happen as Tamako appeared to glitch out, then glitch back in on the other side of Sakura. She whirled around and had Sakura on the ground in a second, forearm at her throat. 

“Yield,” Tamako insisted, pressing slightly harder as Sakura attempted to buck her off. 

Sakura coughed a few times, but slapped the ground a few times to show she yielded. 

The proctor declared Tamako’s win, and she hopped off of Sakura, offering a hand to help her up. 

“Sorry you didn’t get to show anything,” Tamako said sheepishly. 

“No problem, just tell me what on earth you did there,” Sakura replied, taking the hand and pulling herself up. They started moving back to the railings. 

“I glitched!” Tamako replied proudly. “I wasn’t entirely sure I could build up enough speed in the short distance between us, and I was not at all sure I could, y’know, not glitch out of the arena entirely, which would’ve been troublesome.” 

“How on earth do you glitch?” Sakura asked curiously. 

Tamako shrugged. “It’s a family jutsu! Can only tell you it involves seals and a lot of speed.” 

“Well, congratulations anyway!” Sakura said, waving. “I gotta get back to my team.” 

“Good luck next time,” Tamako replied easily, waving as well. 

Sasuke couldn’t say he was impressed by his opponent. Kori Yuki didn’t seem like very much, especially compared to his two teammates. 

“Watch out,” Shisui said, leaning over to him. “The guy’s a Yuki. Which means he probably has the Hyoton bloodline. Ice style. Be careful and don’t let him ensnare you. Try and stay off the ground if you can.” 

Sasuke nodded at his cousin’s advice. ‘Got it.’ He’d have to do what so many before him had, and hang from the ceiling. He couldn’t do anything one-handed yet, so he’d have to just hang upside down by his feet. 

The match started, and Sasuke immediately leaped for the ceiling. This proved to be a good choice as the floor iced over in a second. 

“Hey! Get down from there!” The Yuki looked almost offended. 

Sasuke shrugged. He doubted Kori knew Konoha SSL, so signing at him was pointless. No one would be yelling translations for him. 

“The quiet type, huh?” Kori asked, puffing up, drawing kunai. 

Sasuke snuck a glance at Shisui, who looked like he was going to murder someone. As the Yuki prepared whatever he was doing, Sasuke kept an eye on him and signed at Shisui. ‘Something wrong?’

Shisui rolled his eyes. ‘He should use Senbon, but who am I to tell him how to use his kekkei genkai.’

Sasuke scoffed silently, swinging up on top of the beam hed been handing from to jump to another one and hang from that one. 

“Get down here and fight me!” Kori squawked. 

Sasuke just stared down at him. No thanks. He wasn’t stupid. ‘You come up here.’ he signed, despite knowing full well the genin wouldn’t understand him. 

“He said to go up there and fight him,” Shisui shouted, smirking at Sasuke when he was sent an annoyed look. 

The Yuki looked similarly annoyed, chucking kunai at Sasuke. 

Sasuke dodged again, then did the signs for a fireball, one of the few jutsu he had down. 

He blew it out, and sent it barrelling towards Kori, and he threw up a wall of ice, only for the fireball to go straight through and crash into him. 

Sasuke looked to the proctor. “Well?”

“Sasuke Uchiha wins,” the proctor confirmed after checking to see if Kori was unconscious. 

Fuji wasn’t sure what his opponent’s skills were, although based on her teammate’s both being close-range fighters, she was probably a long to mid-range fighter, to balance them out. 

When she pulled out scrolls, Fuji grinned delightedly and pulled out their own. A weapons master then. Well, they’d just have to see who was better then. 

They started with long-range, throwing kunai, shuriken, and senbon at each other, knocking each other’s weapons out of the air, and dodging the ones they didn’t manage to knock away. 

Fuji chucked a spear with its shaft covered in explosive tags at her, ducking under a well aimed kunai. “THINK FAST!” 

Tenten squawked in protest, substituting with an earlier thrown mace. The spear blew up, and Fuji cheered. “Yes! Didn’t hit you, but it was still awesome!” 

Tenten smirked. “Oh, is that how this is?” 

Fuji wondered if they should be afraid now. Probably. 

She slapped a series of explosive tags Fuji could see from here were definitely not standard Konoha ones, onto a spear of her own, and threw it at them, holding up the sign to detonate it as it landed near them. She smirked, and it exploded. 

Fuji managed to grab a shield to protect themself, although the metal was warped and hot. They dropped it before it could burn them. “Not bad, for a Konoha kid.” 

“No more explosions please, we do not need the tower destroyed,” the Hokage intervened quickly. 

Fuji and Tenten both pouted quickly, but recovered. Fuji drew a sword, waiting patiently for Tenten to draw her own, then lunged, the two swords crossing. 

“Not bad,” Fuji agreed, exchanging spark producing clashes with the Konoha genin. 

“Not bad yourself,” she replied, ducking under one of their swings and swinging at the back of their legs, forcing them to bend and twist awkwardly to stop the sword with theirs. A weird twist and flick later, and Tenten’s sword went flying over Fuji’s head to land a ways away. They twisted and pinned her, sword at her throat. 

“I win,” they crowed, smirking as the proctor called it. 

Tenten huffed. “You have got to show me that last thing.” 

They got off her, offering her a hand. “Sure. If you show me how you construct your explosive tags, I recognized the symbols, but didn’t quite see how they connected. But it looks odd.” 

“Deal,” she replied, grabbing the hand, and letting them pull her up. 

Maybe Fuji hadn’t been expecting all that much when they came to Konoha for the Chuunin exams, but they daresay they made a friend! 

Umi and Yunikon glanced at each other. “I’m doomed,” Umi noted, sighing. 

“Yep,” Yunikon agreed. “Come on, let’s go anyway. I won’t be too rough, promise!” He hopped over the railing to assume his position down below. 

“You’d better keep that promise,” She threatened. “I want to see the rest of the matches!” 

“There’ll only be like, two more,” Eidoko offered unhelpfully. “So even if you do get beaten into the floor you won’t miss much.” 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Umi said sarcastically. She sighed, but jumped over the railing. “Let’s go.” 

Yunikon charged at her immediately after the proctor told them to go. He was kind enough to start with the taijutsu style Umi know, to at least let her put up a fight. 

So they fought, exchanging blows and blocks. 

Yunikon got a lucky shot in, then changed style, and Umi went down quickly. 

“I yield,” she called to the proctor, from her place in the stranglehold Yunikon had gotten her in. 

“Yunikon Uzumaki wins.” The proctor noted. 

Kamisori blinked at the person with the dog he was going up against. “Well, at least I have my backup trumpet.” 

Hirata patted his back. “At least you have your backup trumpet indeed. Better not break that one too.” 

They stuck their tongue out at her. “Yeah yeah. I’ll ask Mom to bring another when she comes to see me in the finals.” 

Hirata gave a hum. “Great, now get out there and fight him. Before I push you over the edge.” 

“You wouldn’t dare!” He squawked. 

“I would,” she sang. “Now go!” 

She made a pushing motion, and they quickly jumped over the railing. 

The proctor called for them to start, and Kiba immediately barreled for Kamisori, attempting to do...something with his spinning drill. Kamisori copied Miyo, leaping up to the ceiling then pulling out his trumpet. Good thing he could play the trumpet one handed. 

While Kiba barrelled around looking for him, Kamisori started a melody, one he knew well, an old Uzushio sea shanty. The lyrics were a bit vulgar, but the melody was pretty. His trumpet sound came in first, hiding his own melody, followed by a higher flute sound, doing an upper version of the melody, followed by a clarinet sound, making nice chords. The flute sound was to hide Kamisori himself, and the clarinet to disorient Kiba. It’d mess with his inner ear and his balance would be horrid. 

Kiba came out of the drill, as did the dog. Both were stumbling slightly and rubbing their ears. Well, Akamaru was pawing at his ears, but same thing. 

He added cymbals, which were his favorite sound to play with, to add a high pitched noise that theoretically only Akamaru could hear. Technically the flute sound was better for doing that particular layer of genjutsu, but it was already occupied, and he couldn’t do duel sounds of one instrument yet. He also couldn’t do more than five sounds, so he had to chose the last one carefully. 

He went with drums, using them to do a weird binding genjutsu he’d picked up from Hirata. Turning the genjutsu into a musical genjutsu had been an adventure though, and it was still a bit buggy, over riding his original sound’s genjutsu. They’d have to work on that. 

Kiba struggled to turn to him, looking extremely confused as Kamisori dropped to the floor. He couldn’t stop playing, so he just drew a kunai and knocked Kiba out. 

Kamisori hoped he didn’t have to knock out the dog too. He didn’t know where to hit to safely knock out a dog. 

He stopped playing when the proctor declared his win. 

He got back up to the above watching areas, and Katsu elbowed him. “Kushina would’ve been proud. Using that ridiculous and vulgar of a song in front of the Hokage.” 

Kamisori beamed. They’d heard many tales of Katsu’s female cousin, he’d been fairly close with her before she left for Konoha. Bottom line, if he would’ve made Kushina proud, he did good. 

Hirata puffed out her cheeks. “I’m dead.” 

Miyo patted her on the back. “Well, we can’t all make it into the next round.” 

“The entire Sand team is making it in,” Hirata complained, sighing. “No one’s complaining there.” 

“One of them is a jinchuuriki,” Jinbei pointed out. “I can sense it. And the other two are older than us. I’m not entirely surprised.” 

Hirata sighed again, but jumped into the arena. “Alright, let’s just get it over with.”

She faced Temari, eyeing the fan apprehensively. That fan would be her downfall. If she couldn’t get a genjutsu on before Temari caught her in a wind jutsu, she was dead. 

She could manage exactly one in the time she estimated it would take for Temari to get the fan open and swing it, and she only knew one she could manage in that short of time. Unfortunately it was one layered on herself. Fortunately, it would hopefully hide her presence from Temari. 

She was at a disadvantage here, and a severe one at that. With the mist nin it had been fairly easy, Miyo had been there to distract him while she took the twenty seconds she needed to weave the genjutsu she’d used. 

Twenty seconds didn’t sound like much, but in a fight, it could be everything. Temari likely wouldn’t give her more than two. If that. 

The proctor started the match, and Hirata did two half signs and activated the genjutsu, diving out of the way of Temari’s opening blast. It was a basic genjutsu to make the other person’s eyes slide right off of you. Could be circumvented with enough practice and willpower however. 

Hirata started doing as many hand signs as she could while Temari couldn’t find her. And while she wasn’t throwing wind jutsu every which way. She got halfway through a set of seals for a genjutsu that would hopefully end the match before she had to dodge a wide area effect jutsu from Temari. She perched on a wall, trying to finish the seals before the genjutsu backfired on her. She only had so much time before the genjutsu misfired. 

She dodged another jutsu, but didn’t manage to finish the final sign before the jutsu misfired slightly, coating the area in chakra to make it look weird. 

By weird, Hirata meant psychedelic. As in everything was colored wrong and sometimes spinning. At least this wasn’t the bad way for it to misfire. Just the strangest one. Oh, look, there was a neon orange and green deer. 

Temari looked understandably confused, and Hirata took that moment to start another genjutsu, hoping beyond belief this would confuse her long enough to get this one actually finished. 

She was to the last sign before the girl recovered. She finished it as wind hurtled toward her, slamming her against a wall and knocking her out. 

Her last thought was that she hoped someone would be there to get rid of the genjutsu. It was a fun disorientation one, so it was possible no one would notice. 

“Is it bad I’m glad I didn’t have to face anyone?” Jinbei asked, watching the proctor assemble a hat with those that had passed. 

Everyone got a slip of paper with a number. Jinbei paled when they realized they were against Temari. “I’m even more dead than Hirata was.” They got pats on the back from all nearby Uzu genin. It wasn't particularly reassuring. They were a sensor, they weren’t on combat training yet, they wouldn't be for a little while yet. They were absolutely doomed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Hope you lot have a slightly better idea of the skills of everyone I’m working with here. I just stuck this in a randomizer honestly. Same for the finals. Well kinda, I used dice because I didn’t have wifies at that time. Close enough, lol. It’s long because reasons. Enjoy it while it lasts. (Sorry this A/N is gonna be really long) 
> 
> Since it is after November, I have a bunch of spots open to be filled. So, poll! https://forms.gle/PSmXCcPnuuLkvX8V6 here's a link, or you can join my discord server with the code pnQAF39
> 
> So an explanation behind Tamako’s thing. She can ‘glitch’ which is a bit like a slightly uncontrolled hiraishin. It’s also extremely short range and requires a certain amount of base speed to pull off. She is still a Hogo Uzu, as that falls under space/time, albeit a more taijutsu focused one. Hogo Uzu will be a wide range of things, so they’re a bit of a wild card. Some will be masters of one specific thing that makes them really hard to beat, others are jacks of all trades. Some are more speed based, some punch like Tsunade to crack the earth. All depends on the person, and occasionally, their family line. Some families keep track of their lines(Tamako’s family is one of them) because someone in their ancestry developed a seal that spread to their children, and their children after that.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Month between! 14 chapters after this. Much long, haha. Originally in this fic I’d planned for a single Month Between chapter. I still have no clue how I managed to be that naive. Expect some head hopping as I try and squish in everything I need to do. Two more chapters of this, both likely very long chapters.

Naruto had, of course, noticed that he always felt like there were glass shards in his lungs whenever he exerted himself too much, but he hadn’t quite realized it wasn’t normal. 

So, here he was, under the metaphorical knife. 

Shisui had dragged him into it when Tsunade and Orochimaru strolled into town for the exams, so here he was, laying down on a medical table with Tsunade bent over him with her hands glowing green and Orochimaru slouched in a corner. Shisui was sitting next to him, and chattering away about something that sounded like boasting about his genin. 

“Well kid, I know why you feel like that,” Tsunade said after a moment, sitting back. “It’s because you have literal glass shards in your lungs.”

Naruto blinked at her. ‘What?’

“You have glass in your lungs. I assume the furball is always passively healing the damage, but when you exercise, and generally exert yourself, the glass moves, and the furball can’t keep up. Hence the pain. Theoretically, you’ll be fine long term, but I would still suggest surgery to get rid of the glass.” 

‘Fun,’ Naruto signed sarcastically. 

“I can remove it,” Orochimaru said calmly. “With assistance from Fukuro. It will require a day of travel on his part, but I believe we can have it removed by three days from now.” 

“Don’t you even dare I will be doing it.” Tsunade barked immediately. 

Orochimaru had a barely visible smirk. “Alright then. I assume you’ll want to tour the hospital and select an area to work?” 

“Obviously! I am not working in here,” Tsunade huffed, glancing around the room. “It isn’t anywhere close to sterile, and since I will be working on the lungs, I am not settling for anything but the best.” 

Naruto snickered silently. She luckily didn’t look down at him, too busy glaring at the surroundings, which was Naruto’s apartment, which was fairly clean, although definitely not hospital clean. 

“Be at the hospital in three days,” Tsunade told Naruto sternly. “Ten o’clock.” 

Naruto nodded quickly, and she left mildly dramatically, closing the door behind her with perhaps more force than necessary. 

“If you’ll excuse me,” Orochimaru said cooly, getting up and following her. “I’ll be convincing her to stay in Konoha in the name of fixing up the hospital.” 

Shisui snorted, not moving from his seat. “Have fun. I bet she’ll be head of the hospital in less then a day.” 

Naruto nodded agreement with that guess. 

“I do have to go make sure Yunikon isn’t too annoyed by Gai and Lee’s antics,” Shisui said, laughing. “He wanted to train with them though, so it’s his own fault.” 

‘Have fun,’ Naruto signed cheekily. 

“Yeah yeah, we’ll see about that,” Shisui sighed, opening the door. “Well, I need to go. See you around Naruto.” 

‘See you around,’ Naruto replied in sign. 

Shisui headed for where he knew Gai and Lee probably were, as it had been Gai’s favorite training ground when he’d last been in Konoha. It was unlikely to have changed, as Gai was not one to just randomly change things every once in a while. 

Sure enough, Gai was watching Yunikon and Lee go at it very enthusiastically, occasionally shouting out tips. 

Once he noticed Shisui coming, he turned to him. “Greetings Shisui!” 

Shisui inclined his head, watching his genin. “Yunikon’s doing pretty well. He doesn’t want to be speed based like I am, so I’m glad you could help him with this.” 

“Of course! He is an enthusiastic student! I couldn’t ask for a better addition to our regime!” Gai was now crying big tears of joy, as you do when you’re Gai. 

“Uhh, right. I’m gonna go then…” Shisui tried to turn around and leave, but Gai clearly disagreed. 

“YOU MUST SEE HOW YOUR STUDENT HAS IMPROVED!” Gai shouted, making Yunikon and Lee glance over. 

Shisui winced at the volume. He was not getting out of this, was he. “Okay fine, I’ll stay and watch for a little while, but I have to go check on my other students afterward.” 

“Of course!” Gai agreed enthusiastically. 

Once he’d managed to pry himself away from Gai, Shisui headed for the training ground he was pretty sure Eidoko and Miyo were doing their best to flood.

On his way across the village to find them, he noticed he was getting more than a few strange looks. 

Most of the people giving him strange looks he recognized as having known them while he still lived in Konoha. Maybe they were recognizing him? None of them tried to talk to him though, so maybe the heterochromia was helping disguise him. Honestly, it was weird no one who hadn’t already been told had connected Shisui Uzumaki, who did have black curly hair, and Shisui Uchiha, who had black curly hair. Although to be fair to them, Shisui Uchiha was dead. Had been for nearly five years. They probably thought they were seeing a ghost. 

Maybe he should’ve taken up Hoshiko’s offer to dye his hair red for the duration of the Chuunin Exams.

It seemed that Miyo and Eidoko were making a valiant effort to flood their area, and there was a heavy mist hanging around. Shisui could tell it was chakra laced, which meant it was probably on purpose, as opposed to the fault of one of the fire jutsu he taught Eidoko. He had to jump out of the way of four water bullets, landed in two feet of water, and look at that, time for revenge. 

Orochimaru followed his old teammate to the hospital, silently praying for the two nurses he knew and actually bothered to know the names of in the hospital. Oh, wasn’t one of Shisui’s brats in the hospital training? Oh dear. Well, everyone would manage to survive Tsunade’s wrath. 

The best way to get an old comrade back into the village, point out what’s been done to their place, and insist they stay to make sure the tragedy doesn’t happen again. 

If Hiruzen could pull it on him, he could pull it on Tsunade. No one could stop him. 

Tsunade slammed the door to the hospital open, and all of the nurses inside jumped, as did many of the patients. One of the medics, which was one he knew, Nintaimi, she worked with ANBU primarily, and was quite skilled at handling traumatized shinobi who hated the hospital, just looked like she had accepted her death. 

Which honestly, Orochimaru could understand. 

Tsunade zeroed in on the Uzushio genin standing there looking both petrified and very confused. “You!” 

The genin pointed at themselves. “Me?” 

“You,” Tsunade insisted like it meant anything. “You’re an Uzushio genin, yes?”

The genin nodded cautiously. “I am, why.” 

“Are you here for the chuunin exams?” 

“Yes but I got disqualified while in the preliminaries.” She shrugged. “Was up against my teammate, I really had no chance.” 

“Your name?” 

Oh dear, Tsunade had the ‘I’m going to keep them’ face on. This would be interesting. 

“Umihebiro Iyashino Shio. You can call me Umi. She/her pronouns are fine.” Yep, definitely one of Shisui’s brats. If Orochimaru was remembering right, and he always did, all of Shisui’s brats had names of mythical creatures. 

“Right, minion, where’s the operating equipment. I will require usage of some and a room in three days. Until then, I will be having words with everyone here about a few things!” 

Orochimaru watched the nurses pale dramatically with no little amusement. 

“Tsunade,” Nintaimi said, calm as ever. “Umi just arrived, and we were about to give her a tour. Would you prefer if we just added you to it?” 

Umi blinked at Tsunade, probably now realizing who she was. Most Uzumaki knew of Tsunade either through Jiraiya or Orochimaru, but hadn’t met her. 

“Fine, that will do. I want a briefing on each of the active nurses and their skill levels yesterday. I will be using the rest of today to get you into shape, then I’m going to get drunk and forget this ever happened.” 

Oh yes, this would be very amusing for Orochimaru. He’d have to essentially babysit her, but the ranting would be hilarious if nothing else. 

True to form, Tsunade whirled through the hospital destroying everything in her path, Umi following behind like the minion she’d been called previously. 

The nurses, with the exception of Nintaimi, mostly got scolded, given instructions to improve their medical jutsu, and generally told to improve the hospital. 

So now here they were, Umi shifting awkwardly on the stool between Orochimaru and a currently drunk Tsunade. 

“So, was I supposed to go?” Umi asked, looking around and hunching her shoulders. “I wasn’t dismissed?”

Orochimaru shrugged. “When she starts talking, we’ll know if she just forgot to dismiss you, or intends on attempting to train you.”

Umi paled slightly. “Train me? Is that why I got abducted?” 

“You didn’t get abducted, you went with her willingly.” 

“She’s  _ Tsunade! _ She’d probably break me in half if I hadn’t!” Well it was nice to know he and Jiraiya had sufficiently put the fear of Tsunade into them. 

“Nah, you’re too cute, and besides! Family!” Oh yeah, Tsunade was very drunk now. Her words were slurring badly, nearly unintelligible. 

“Uhhh, kay?” Umi offered, looking like she was torn between scooting away from Tsunade and therefore closer to Orochimaru, or just straight up trying to leave. “Can I go now?” 

“I’d suggest leaving now,” Orochimaru said mildly. “I will fetch you in the morning should Tsunade require your presence somewhere other than the hospital.” 

“Uh, thanks,” Umi muttered, quickly sliding off her stool and leaving. 

Orochimaru eyed his drunk teammate and signaled for a drink of his own. He’d need it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Poor Umi. Ah well, she’ll come out all the better for it. She’ll be fiiine. The training field Eidoko and Miyo are occupying will be fine too. Once it drains. And I’ve had that Naruto thing planned for ages. It is only now coming into play. I was definitely very very foolish to ever think I’d need only one chapter for this. It might even extend into four at this rate. Maybe. We’ll see. It shouldn’t. Theoretically.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving on! 2nd of three parts of the month between the rounds. I hope you all have had a good new year!

“Do I have to be here?” Shikamaru complained tiredly. 

“If I’m going to suffer through trying to work out what the heck Tsunade wants with me, you’re coming too,” Umi replied immediately. 

Shikamaru just huffed, clearly not going to bother arguing with her. 

“And besides, maybe you might be able to work out why she abducted me.”

“You went willingly.”

“UNDER DURESS!” She squawked, waving her arms. “Do you have any idea how scary she is?” 

“No but I bet she appreciates the compliment,” Shikamaru deadpanned, gesturing to where Tsunade was standing, clearly within earshot. 

Umi looked like she wanted to die, and honestly, mood, but for now they were stuck here. 

“You brought a friend,” Tsunade remarked dryly. “A Nara if I’m not mistaken?” 

Shikamaru waved lazily. “Hi.” 

“He’s learning medical ninjutsu too,” Umi said, ruthlessly throwing him to the wolves. How rude. 

“Oh?” And now she looked legitimately interested. Wonderful. “Is he now?” 

Shikamaru nodded reluctantly. “I am, yes.” He was going to regret this wasn’t he. He was absolutely going to regret this so much. 

“So,” Tsunade smirked, clapping her hands together. “What are you both working on?” 

Shikamaru regretted it already.

Orochimaru had to admit this was somewhat of a minorly momentous occasion, given that all three of the legendary sannin were together for the first time in over a decade. Well, in the same place at the same time. Together was a bit of a misnomer. They likely weren’t going to all interact at the same time, given Tsunade and Jiraiya were only barely on speaking terms, and Orochimaru and Jiraiya weren’t exactly friendly. 

The only way all three would be seen together was if they were fighting. Either sparring or just flat out arguing with some Tsunade punching Jiraiya through a few walls. 

“Orochimaru, didn’t think you’d be here,” Jiraiya greeted, for once not acting like a ridiculous pervert. 

“Sensei requested my presence as he is mildly suspicious about activity within the village. Trust me, I would far rather be in Uzushio.” Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly as a mist-nin he knew was here for the event left their eyes on him for just a bit too long. “Watch out for Training ground 16, it’s rather flooded at the moment.” 

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, making a half sign for code. “Oh really? An entire training ground? Are you sure?”

Orochimaru snorted softly. “Unfortunately, yes, it’s quite true. Two Uzushio genin and one of their sensei flooded it. And continue to flood it regularly. I would avoid that training ground if you don’t feel like getting soaking wet. Or drawn into a three way spar. Or four-way if Shisui’s been over there for longer than twenty seconds and doesn’t have anywhere urgent to be.” 

Jiraiya looked extremely confused for a moment, and Orochimaru remembered Jiraiya had both known Shisui before the incident, and hadn’t been told about said incident. 

“I’ll catch you up,” Orochimaru sighed. “Since clearly you and your spy network are completely useless.” 

“It is not!” Jiraiya complained loudly. “And besides, I have places to be other than your creepy house with all it’s snakes everywhere.” 

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at him. Oh, making a fuss were they? “Well then. I have a new clutch hatching soon, and as such, would prefer it if your giant feet weren’t tramping around and nearly stepping on them.” He didn’t actually have any clutches at his Konoha house, mostly because he wasn’t here often enough to set up a breeding program that he cared enough to maintain. 

When Jiraiya seemed fully ready to continue a fully fabricated argument, Orochimaru rolled his eyes and shunshined away. He wasn’t going to deal with his idiot teammate for longer than needed. 

Naruto wondered what it would be like to not have glass shards in his lungs. He didn’t really remember the incident that had caused them, other than some flashes of Hihana taking him to the hospital, and a lot of pain. 

“Naruto?” A voice when he entered the hospital made him turn. Umi was standing near the door, holding a clipboard, with Shikamaru next to her holding what looked like a dead fish. “What’re you doing here? Did you get hurt?” 

Naruto shrugged. ‘Tsunade said something about glass in lungs.’ 

Shikamaru looked roughly like he wanted to be struck with lightning and die right there. “That’s why she’s kicking us out with instructions to figure out how to revive this stupid fish.” 

Naruto shrugged again. 

“Somehow that explains so much, and nothing at all…” Umi noted, tapping her chin with the clipboard. “Eh, whatever. Come on Shika. Good luck Naruto! I hope it goes well!”

Naruto hoped it did too, he needed to see Sasuke win the third round. He might not be participating cause he tied with Lee, but he could be there for his teammate! He pumped a fist, and headed for the receptionist desk, stomach turning at remembering the multitude of other times he’d needed help and gotten none. But just maybe. Just maybe with Tsunade here he wouldn’t be turned away immediately. 

The lady glared at him, but didn’t immediately dismiss him, so Naruto took that as a win. “Lady Tsunade is in room 124 on the third floor.” 

As the conversation was apparently over, Naruto hoped he could find room 124 before it was too late or someone who was going to throw him out found him. 

He found it easily enough, entering it to find three nurses and Tsunade. Plus some black haired lady with a pig by her feet. 

“There you are brat,” Tsunade barked. “I was beginning to worry I’d have to fetch you myself.” 

Naruto shrugged. ‘Couldn’t find the room.’ 

She narrowed her eyes at him, but didn’t bother pressing. “Up here. I’ll sedate you myself. You’ll wake up in a few hours probably. Depending on what the fuzzball does, you might be out of here today.” 

Naruto nodded agreement, hopping up on the bed and laying back. 

Tsunade dismissed the nurses, and her green coated hand coming for his face was the last thing he saw before he passed out.

Naruto woke up, and a pain he hadn’t even realized had been there was gone. It didn’t hurt to breathe any more. It was a novel experience. 

Shikamaru was sitting nearby, reading a book on what looked like something medical. 

Naruto snapped his fingers somewhat ineffectively to try and get Shikamaru’s attention. He was never very good at snapping his fingers. 

The movement apparently caught Shikamaru’s eye because he looked up. Apparently he didn’t feel like putting the book down to sign, and spoke. “You’re awake. Feel any better?” 

Naruto nodded emphatically. ‘Doesn’t hurt to breathe.’

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, looking almost concerned. “It hurt to breathe?” 

Naruto flapped his hands a bit. ‘It did, but I didn’t realize because it always had. Minor chronic pain I forgot was there most of the time.’ 

Shikamaru just grunted in response, standing up. “I was instructed to get Tsunade once you woke up, so I need to go do that.”

Naruto nodded amicably, watching his friend leave. Now he just had to wait and hope Tsunade actually came and he wasn’t kicked out of the hospital because of the fuzzball! ...Okay maybe he had some lasting issues with the hospital. 

Tsunade did come in just minutes later, Shikamaru and Umi trailing behind her. “Alright brat, let me do a final checkup and you should be good to go.” 

Oh thank goodness, getting out of the hospital is so close. Nearly there. 

He sat through the check up fairly calmly, barely vibrating with excitement at getting out. He’d been in for less than four hours and he was already ready to be out. He avoided this place for a good reason. 

“Alright brat, you’re good to go,” Tsunade said finally stepping back. “You’re discharged.” 

Naruto took that chance to yeet himself out the window. 

Well, based on the figure jumping out the window, and the flash of bright yellow Sasuke spotted, visiting Naruto in the hospital was pointless. He was not at all surprised, he knew Naruto hated the hospital, avoiding it whenever possible and preferring to go to Shikamaru with any injuries. It’d helped Shikamaru practice, so they’d never addressed it. 

Plus the furball meant Naruto wasn’t really ever in any danger of dying and healed quickly anyway. 

Sasuke was aware of the incident when Naruto was a kid, Naruto had told him soon after he’d lost his own voice, although he wasn’t sure Shino or Kakashi was aware of it. Shikamaru probably knew, but he knew everything. 

“YOSH!” Ah, Rock Lee was it? “HOW ARE YOU THIS FINE DAY ESTEEMED RIVAL!” 

Yeah Lee had decided he was going to have Sasuke as some sort of ‘eternal rival’. He’d asked Kakashi once, and had been warned off, but really he didn’t mind. It was fun usually. 

Yunikon, who was apparently with Lee, he’d been seeing the two together a lot more often now that Sasuke thought about it, waved to him. 

Sasuke waved back. He addressed Lee, signing to him. ‘I’m fine. How are you.’ 

“I AM GOOD!” 

“Volume down Lee, you do not need yet another noise complaint,” Yunikon sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

“Apologies!” Lee insisted, still loud, but no longer shouting at the top of his lungs. “Sasuke! Train with us!” 

Sasuke took one look at the two, Yunikon still sighing, and Lee making an epic pose with his thumb out in a thumbs up, and decided, what did he have to lose. It wasn’t like he’d really been doing all that much besides a bunch of stamina and speed training. A lot of speed training. Although Lee was really fast, and Yunikon was on a team with one of his opponents. 

‘Sure why not?’ Sasuke decided quickly. 

Lee made a face like a very surprised owl, then beamed at him. “YOSH! I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO MAKE SURE IT IS HELPFUL TO YOU!” 

Yunikon jumped like he hadn’t actually expected this, which, fair, but Sasuke just shrugged at the confused glance he was sent. 

“ONWARD!” Lee shouted, running off. 

“No, if you put that there it’s going to destabilize after a few seconds,” Fuji disagreed. “I’ve tried.” 

“But if you move the stabilization thing here, then you can disable it with this seal and a flick of chakra, and it’ll go boom faster and be hotter.” 

Fuji examined it, then turned it upside down to check. “Huh, I think you’re right.” They adjusted it again, then drew in the right symbol. “Alright! Let’s check!” 

“Yes!” Tenten unsealed another training dummy, where she kept getting them from Fuji didn’t know, and set it in the middle of the field. She backed away to a safe distance, then Fuji slapped the tag onto the training dummy, activated the disabling seal, and sprinted for her. They made it just in time, the seal exploding behind them. 

“Let’s move the disabler a little bit farther away,” Fuji decided. “That was too close.” 

“Deal.” Tenten pulled out yet another piece of paper, Fuji had no clue where she was getting all of those either, and started sketching out the seal again. 

They could sense the weird and horrified looks the two were getting from the Hyuuga in the corner, but they paid him no mind. Tenten had said he was a teammate, and left it at that, so Fuji had elected to ignore the Hyuuga. Afterall, they had stuff to blow up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another third of the Month Between. Next time we have everyone else. Probably. We should. I hope it’s been a wonderful January for all of you! For the record, I do ship it. I ship my wonderful pyro children. Use this link to vote on the poll: https://forms.gle/VNjYxfsDKeJSHu8q7, or come see my discord server with the code pnQAF39!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously guys, we are still 11 chapters, not counting this one, away from the end of this fic. It is going to be so long. 

Hayate paled at what he heard. The mist, in alliance with the sand, to destroy Konoha. Hayate moved forward, pausing when he heard the mist jounin say something further. 

“And one more thing. Who’ll take care of the little spy?” 

Hayate froze. They’d seen him. Or heard him, but it didn’t matter now. He recovered, taking in a deep breath and feeling the wind chakra in the air mixing into his lungs. He leaped, racing for Hokage tower. If he made it there, he’d be safe. It was night, no one would be awake. 

...Except for that one red-headed genin that apparently was getting home from practice and was now jumping rooftops towards him. 

Hayate paused to try and warn them off, but was tackled, then stabbed right through the chest. He could tell he was pinned in place, and would likely bleed out in minutes if he didn’t get medical attention. His lungs were stabbed straight through, but they were still functioning fine, so Hayate was fine there. 

The genin lunged at the mist jounin, and Hayate heard bones crack like the man’s ribs were some bubble wrap getting popped. The genin, Hayate could now tell was female, paused as she spotted the sword impaled through his chest. “Ouch.” 

“You don’t say,” Hayate commented sarcastically. 

“I do say,” she replied, smirking. “Oh hey, he’s running away. Great.” 

She knelt down next to him, hands glowing green. “I’m going to heal it some, pull out the sword, and heal the rest. I have been training with Tsunade all month, I can manage this. Umi, by the way.” 

Hayate assumed it was her name. “Hayate.” 

“Oooh, you’re that one guy with the prosthetic lungs. Nice,” she healed for a moment longer, then pulled out the sword. 

Hayate coughed as the holes in his lung filled with blood. Umi quickly sealed up the wound, and Hayate could feel the deeper tissues knitting themselves together. He still had blood in his lungs however, but knew he should wait until she was finished healing the deeper tissue before he hacked it up. 

“Alright, you’re good to cough up that blood.” She sat back on her heels. 

Hayate sat up, leaned over a bit and started coughing, blood splattering the tiles next to him. 

Once he was fairly sure it was all out, he glanced back at her. “Thanks.” 

“No problem. You uh, might want to actually go to the hospital, I know there’ll be a few Iyashino adults arriving tomorrow that should be able to repair your lung, but I’d wait in the hospital, it’ll probably be better.” 

Hayate could agree with that, but he had to get to Hokage tower. “I have to tell the Hokage something.” 

She eyed him for a long moment, then nodded in agreement. “Fine. Let’s go. Then we go to the hospital.” 

Hayate couldn’t argue with that, so he just nodded. 

“Umihebiro Uzumaki, by the way,” she offered her hand. “You can call me Umi.” 

Hayate nodded, taking the offered hand. She pulled him up and they headed for the Hokage tower.

Kamisori always loved training with Hirata, it was always so much fun. Already, 2/3rds through the month, and they had two more illusions ready for his trumpet. It was a lot easier when Hoshiko-sensei was only focusing on them. They hadn’t really learned from her before, as neither of them were on her team. 

Hoshiko’s entire team were all training with other people, Miyo training with Eidoko from Shisui’s team, Tamako with Sakura, the girl she’d beaten in the prelims and Jinbei with Naruto and Jiraiya of all people. Hirata and Kamisori’s third teammate, Fuji, was with one of the Konoha teams, the girl they’d fought in the prelims, the slightly pyro weapon’s user. 

Kamisori had passed their field a few times, and it was littered with scorch marks and holes, plus the entrails of many many training dummies. Kamisori mourned each one with the appropriate seriousness, which was none. 

“So, I borrowed Suga, since they’re in town and don’t have anything better to do,” Hoshiko said, waving her arms at the fairly short redhead next to her. Kamisori was pretty sure Suga was on Semari’s ship, or at least one of the flagships. 

“My pronouns are she/they today if you don’t mind,” Suga replied, grinning. “Either is good.” 

Kamisori nodded, storing that information. They were wearing a very nice skirt, it had orcas on it, and he thought that was awesome. 

“She’ll help you two with how easily your things break, as an outside perspective, alright?” Hoshiko stepped back slightly. “Have fun, I’m going to watch and see if I can spot anything as an outsider.” 

Honestly, Asuma was proud of the two he was currently overseeing. While his team generally didn’t get along very well, it seemed like Kiba and Choji were having fun beating each other up. Kiba was helping Choji not hesitate and pull his blows, and Choji was helping Kiba with accuracy and sheer power of his clan jutsu. They were being good for each other. Asuma was mostly calling advice to them and sometimes taking them to dinner. Not very often, as Choji ate a lot and it was kind of painful for his poor wallet. 

Plus, he got to see Kurenai more often, since Choji was her student and she often came to check up on him when she wasn’t busy with Ino and Hinata. 

He’d take the extra strain on his wallet if it meant he could spend more time with his girlfriend. Taking care of two genin squads limited options for time spent together. So he’d take what he could get. 

While Shino had originally been training somewhat with Kakashi, mostly learning a couple of jutsu to use in conjunction with his insects, a couple of earth and a single water jutsu, a curious Uzushio jounin had since wandered in. 

“So,” the jounin said, grinning in a way that would have made Shino more concerned had he not pretty much grown up with Naruto. “You’re an Aburame, right?” 

Shino inclined his head. “I am.” 

“Cool, always wanted to meet one,” the jounin walked closer, waving to Kakashi. “I’m Yuichi Uzumaki, I specialize in genjutsu.” 

Shino didn’t recognize him, but it wasn’t surprising really. “Shino Aburame,” Shino returned. 

“So kid, can I see the famous Aburame kikai in action if I teach you a few genjutsu?” Yuichi looked almost excited. 

An owl, weird that it was out in daylight, screeched over head, and Shino glanced up at it. Silver and white barred horned owl, although the streaks looked more vertical then horizontal. Shino raised a judgemental eyebrow at it. Shouldn’t it be asleep? 

Yuichi seemed unbothered, waving to the owl. “Hey Bokuto! Did my wife send you?” 

The owl screeched again, coming down and landing on his arm. 

Shino hadn’t been aware that Uzushio used owls as messenger birds, he could’ve sworn they used species of swifts, which weren’t birds of prey like most of the world used, but were instead small birds that spent almost their entire lives in the air. 

Yuichi read a message that was attached to the birds leg, then tucked the paper in his pocket. “Ah, she just wanted me to know she found a place to stay. Wonderful. Thanks Bokuto.” 

The owl screeched proudly then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Oh, it was a summon? 

“I didn’t think Uzumaki could summon owls,” Shino noted. 

“Not usually, that’s just my wife’s summoning contract.” Yuichi shrugged. “Sometimes people have other summoning contracts. I know someone with an orca contract.” 

“Interesting,” Shino settled on. “You mentioned genjutsu?” 

Yuichi grinned, and Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. “I think we’ll get along great!”

“So that’s how my jutsu thingy works!” Tamako finished her elaborate description, of which Sakura understood maybe a third of. If that. It sounded very cool though. “So what can you do?” 

“Not much,” Sakura admitted sheepishly. “No one’s really taught me.” 

“Well, if you’re up for it, I’m totally down for training with you!” Tamako said, grinning. “But you gotta at least try and keep up, alright?” 

Sakura hesitated for just a second, then nodded. “Alright! I got it! Let’s go.” 

“Onward!” Tamako shouted, lunging at Sakura. “Let’s spar for a while!” 

“Could’ve told me after you started attacking!” Sakura squawked, just barely parrying the first blow. 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Tamako asked in reply, smirking and attacking again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, we have the end of the Month Between! Next time is half the third round, because I am doing the same thing I did with the prelims, and trying to fit in every fight as best I can do. This should be fun. Ignore the owl named Bokuto. You cannot stop me from referencing Haikyuu, especially when I’m this deep in the fandom. Don’t worry, none of the fics will be abandoned if I have anything to say about it.

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N) How’d you like it? Yes, it’s a good!Orochimaru sort of fic. Don’t kill me, please.


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